ormer military Head
of State, Major-General Muhammadu
Buhari, yesterday
came down hard on Boko
Haram, which has hidden
under Islam to unleash terror on Nigeria.
Buhari, in his second
intervention following the
growing insurgency in

the north, said in a statement that there was no
justification for the sect’s
wanton disregard for the
sanctity of human life as
epitomised by its orgy of
killings and terror against
women and children.
He called on Nigerians,
irrespective of political affiliation, to put aside their
differences and rally round
the government to recover
the nation’s sovereignty
from the insurgents.
He also condemned

the abduction of over 200
schoolgirls from Government Girls’ Secondary
School, Chibok, Borno
State and expressed the
hope that they would soon
be freed from captivity.
His statement came just
as President Goodluck Jonathan said the abduction
of the pupils would lead
to the end of the reign of
terror which Boko Haram
has unleashed on Nigeria.
According to Buhari,
C O N T I N U E D O N PA G E 3

United States First Lady, Mrs. Michelle Obama campaigning for the release of the Chibok girls in
Washington

he All Progressives
Congress (APC) has
called on the National
Assembly to urgently initiate a probe into how the
budgetary allocations to
the military have been
spent in recent years.
This, the APC said,
would help to establish
whether or not the military is adequately empowered to effectively
tackle the worsening
scourge of terrorism in

the country.
The party in a statement in Lagos yesterday
by its Interim National
Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said
the National Assembly,
in the exercise of its constitutional duties, must
invite service chiefs and
other relevant government officials to shed
light on this issue.
It said the probe became necessary because
of the insinuation in
certain quarters about
the ability and capabil-

Associated Airlines pays bereaved relatives $.48m compensation

}7

ity of the nation’s military in the ongoing battle
against Boko Haram.
“The Nigerian military comes highly recommended globally
because it has excelled,
since 1960, in peacekeeping operations around
the world. In fact, NiC O N T I N U E D O N PA G E 4

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2

Sanctity of Truth

Friday, May 9, 2014

My grouse against Amosun –Osoba
Kunle Olayeni
Abeokuta

F

ormer Ogun State
Governor and a stalwart of All Progressives Congress (APC),
Chief Olusegun Osoba,
yesterday broke his silence
on the crisis rocking the
state chapter of the party,
saying there is a grand
plot to destroy the party
ahead of the 2015 general
elections.
He also declared that
his political disagreement
with Governor Ibikunle
Amosun, which has factionalised the Ogun APC,
was purely based on issues
and justice and not for selfishness or personal aggrandisement.
Osoba spoke at an APC
consultative meeting held
within his Ibara GRA residence in Abeokuta, where
the party’s members in the
NationalAssembly, some
state lawmakers and thousands of party stalwarts
converged.
It will be recalled that
the state APC crisis degenerated last month during
its ward, local government
and state congresses which
resulted in the emergence
of parallel executive officers along the camps of
Amosun and Osoba.
But speaking against
the backdrop of the inter-

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nal wrangling in the party,
Osoba urged APC members in the state to await
the meeting anddecision of
the national headquarters
of the party on the recent
parallel congresses.
The meeting, New Telegraph reliably gathered,
will hold in Abuja on May
13.
The former governor
expressed surprise at the
planned inauguration of
Amosun’s factional executive of APC, which was
reportedly stopped on
Tuesday by the national
leadership of the party.
Osoba, who vowed to
relocate to Abeokuta to
pursue “a new political en-

gineering,” hinted of possible defection in the state
APC if the festering crisis
was not well managed.
He urged his supporters
to the thought about defection to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and
Labour Party (LP), saying
the two parties “are one
and the same and they are
being used to destabilise
the South West.”
Osoba said he had made
huge sacrifices to finance
the political activities of
the progressives, saying at
a time he sold his houses in
Ilorin, Kwara State as well
as Ibadan, Oyo State.
The former governor
warned Amosun to be

wary of sycophants whom
he said sang his (Osoba)
praises in the past and
now singing thegovernor’s
praises today.
He said: “The agenda of
2003 is still very much alive
and that agenda is to destroy and finish Osoba politically. The same pattern
and the same route is being followed. I never knew
I made a mistake; I forgave
all those who wronged me.
In the eight years of PDP
government, they didn’t
want us to survive. I didn’t
know it’s an offence for
me to forgive and forget. I
decided to forgive and forget so that we can wrestle
power back.

“A lot of misinformation
was going round that I have
been compromised. They
said I have been bribed, and
I said how much could they
pay back for the efforts of
the people during the 2011
elections? Can we quantify
that? What we are asking
for is that the people who
worked during the election
should benefit.
“I am not fighting him
and no one should fight
him because he is the governor. As long as he is on
that seat, he must be respected. I’ve been on that
seat twice. But we should
deploy our brains, experience, ideas and fight based
on issues.”

The accounting firm,
whose appointment was
announced yesterday by
Coordinating Minister for
the Economy and Minister
of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, during a debate
at the ongoing World Economic Forum (WEF) on Africa in Abuja, has 16 weeks
to complete its assignment.
It will however work
under the supervision of
the Office of the Auditor
General of the Federation.
Also at the forum, President, Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, unfolded
plans by his corporation to
invest a total of $12 billion
in various sectors of the
Nigerian economy over a
four-year period.
Okonjo-Iweala, who was
contributing to the debate
on the theme: “Forging
inclusive growth, creating jobs,” said PwC’s appointment to look into the
books of the NNPC was in
response to allegations by
the suspended Governor
of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, who

had variously accused the
oil corporation of shortchanging the federation
by failing to fully remit
proceeds from oil sales to
the Federation Account, as
required by law.
Sanusi, in a leaked
memo to President Goodluck Jonathan, had accused the NNPC of withholding over $49 billion in
remittances from the Federation Accounts.
His allegation had
stirred a controversy that
prompted the Federal Government to raise a committee to reconcile the accounts.
However, the setting up
of the committee did not
resolve the knotty issue as
there was a disagreement
between Sanusi and the
members.
While Okonjo-Iweala,
who was a member of the
committee had claimed the
amount unaccounted for
was $10.8 billion, Sanusi retracted his allegation, said
the figure was $12 billion.
Shortly after that, the
suspended CBN governor,
while appearing before an

investigative panel set up
by the House of Representatives to probe his allegation, came up with a new
figure of $20 billion being
the amount of proceeds
for crude oil sales that the
oil corporation had not accounted for.
Justifying the task before PwC, Okonjo-Iweala,
during the debate, said the
forensic audit of the NNPC
accounts, which the Federal Government had earlier
ordered in March, would
help resolve the controversy over the amount of
money the oil corporation
had not accounted for.
She said: “The (suspended) CBN governor raised
issues on unaccounted
amount from the Federation Account. We at the
Ministry of Finance have
for two years been reconciling these figures with the
NNPC to know what they
are supposed to remit to the
Federation Account.
“Our feeling is that the
only way is to have a forensic audit that would let
Nigerians know the issue.
There is a forensic audit

that the government has
approved and it is being
done by PwC under the supervision of the Auditor
General of the Federation
and they said they needed
between 12 and 16 weeks to
do that and all these would
be clarified.”
On poverty and inclusive growth, the minister
explained that the nature
of economic growth in the
continent had not been inclusive enough and more
needed to be done to improve the situation.
“It is obvious that the
quality of our growth is not
good enough because we
are rising with inequality
and without creating jobs
for our people,” she added.
She expressed regrets
that although Nigeria is
growing, enough jobs are
not being created.
The Federal Government, she added, is concerned about how to
change the quality of the
growth.
“We need to get people to
go into farming through agroprenuers where 750,000
CONTINUED ON PAGE 4

he Federal Government has said it targets 75 per cent access
to electricity by 2020,
stressing that the country
harbours huge investment
potential in the power sector.
The Minister of Power,
Prof. Chinedu Nebo, who
stated this at a Breakfast
Forum tagged ‘Private
Sector Participation in
Achieving Access to Pow-

3.99m

The total number of internet
users in Norway in 2010.
Source:Blatantworld.com

er’ in the ongoing World
Economic Forum, Africa
(WEFA) in Abuja, declared
that plans were underway
to connect an average of
1.5 million households to
electricity every year.
According to him, about
30 million households are
still without electricity in
the country, adding that
Nigeria needs to quadruple its 4000MW generation
capacity to meet the huge
demand for electricity in
the country.
“Our target is to achieve

0.86

up to 75 per cent access
to electricity by the year
2020, and by connecting
an average of 1.5 million
households every year. We
will do that, the ongoing
reform of the power sector will improve access
through grid extension,
and non-grid solutions
using renewable energy
which includes solar,
wind, bio-mass and small
and medium hydros. Seventy per cent are thermal,
gas-fire turbines and the
rest hydro. We have the

The number of fixed-telephone subscriptions
per 100 inhabitants of Nigeria in 2008.
Source:Blatantworld.com

coal, we need renewable
energy, we need more hydros, we need solar, wind,
we need bio-mass and all
these are very critical,”
he said.
Nebo, who lamented the
country’s overdependence
on gas for electricity supply, reiterated the need to
encourage a robust energy
mix like coal, solar, wind,
bio-mass among others.
He said although Nigeria sits on the eighth
largest gas deposits in
the whole world, it can-

480,000

The number of adults and children estimated to
be living with HIV in Ivory Coast in 2008.
Source:Blatantworld.com

not continue to generate
most of its electricity by
gas, stressing that the economics does not favour gas
dependency.
Apart from the economic implications, the minister said the acts of vandalism of the gas pipelines
have made dependence
on gas risky.
He stated that the privatisation process aims
at solving several years of
neglect because for many
decades as the population
was growing, there was no
concomitant development
of infrastructure in the
electricity sector.
He added that if the
power situation is fixed,
the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) may grow to a

A cross-section of members of the Nigeria Labour Congress and Nigerian Union of Electricity Employees protesting against the anti-labour practice of electricity distribution companies in Lagos …yesterday.
PHOTOS: SULEIMAN HUSAINI

double digit from 6.5 per
cent yearly average, and
issues of unemployment
and poor industrialisation
would be addressed.
Also, the Permanent
Secretary in the Ministry
of Power, Godknows Igali,
assured that current power supply situation in the
country would improve
in the next few months
through an incremental
process.
Igali said: “We are expecting improvement in
the next few months. It will
be incremental as it will be
improving on daily basis.”
He stated that the poor
state of the networks
before private investors
took over affected power
improvement, adding that
the investors’ Capital Expenditure Plan (CAPEX) is
impressive.
Igali said some of
them, including Transcorp Ughelli Generation
Company (Genco) are expanding to 1000mw capacity shortly while Kainji
hydropower is ensuring
that at least seven of its
eight turbines are fully
functional soon.
Meanwhile, Ghana’s
Minister of Finance, Seth
Terkper, representing President John Mahama, has
urged foreign investors to
leverage on the opportunities in Nigeria’s power sector and other African countries, including Ghana.
“Investors should note
that there is a regional
market out there to be
tapped even as you invest
in Nigeria,” he said.

the abduction of the
schoolgirls has underscored the threat facing
Nigeria as a nation from
“the actions of misguided
persons masquerading as
adherents of Islam”.
“Our hearts are with
families who have lost
loved ones in this cycle of
senseless violence. We also
empathise with the parents
of children whose daughters are in the custody of
a group of anarchists,” he
added.
Buhari, a bigwig of the
All Progressives Congress
(APC), condemned a video
by Boko Haram’s self-acclaimed leader, Abubakar
Shekau, released on Monday in which the group
claimed responsibility for
the kidnap and threatened
to sell the pupils.
“That horrific video
posted on the Internet is a
clear manifestation of the

mindlessness of the bigots.
It shows them for whom
they are, such men cannot
threaten nor should they
be allowed to violate our
sovereignty. It is clear from
what they profess that they
are not followers of God.
They do not mean well for
our country and her citizens. I am a Muslim, I am
versed in the teaching of
Christianity and I understand both religions to seek
peaceful co-existence of all
humanity.
“I wish to reiterate that
there is no justification
whatsoever for this unrestrained disregard for the
sanctity of human life. It
has no place in the Holy
Quran and neither does
it have a place in the Holy
Bible.
“Let these people know
that the entire civilised
world is united against
their terrorist act. We are
grateful to the world for
standing by Nigeria at this

trying time. We hope and
pray that the young ladies
will be reunited with their
respective families in the
days to come,” he said.
He called on the Federal Government to put in
more efforts to ensure the
safety of the people and
expressed happiness that
government has accepted
international assistance in
rescuing the pupils and in
ending insurgency in the
country.
“I fought for a united Nigeria. In my old age, I want
my grandchildren, your
grandchildren, our youths
and indeed all Nigerians to
benefit from a prosperous
and united country devoid of sectarian violence
whether home-grown or
imposed on us from outside.
“Now is not the time
to play politics. Now is
also not the time to trade
blames and amplify our
ideological differences.

The unity of Nigeria is
not negotiable and nothing should divide us as a
people. I therefore urge all
Nigerians at home and in
the Diaspora to support
the country in her effort to
bring an end to this attack
on defenceless citizens and
indeed a united nation.
“We must put aside all
other considerations and
ensure that our country,
Nigeria, pulls together
now so as to recover our
sovereignty. After all, we
all know that Nigeria is
the only country we have
that we can call our own,”
he stated.
Buhari’s attempt to
rally support for the Federal Government against
Boko Haram came hours
after Jonathan yesterday
expressed confidence that
the sect would soon be history.
The president, in an
address at the opening
ceremony of the World

Economic Forum (WEF)
on Africa, being hosted
by Nigeria, in Abuja, anchored his optimism on the
global support the Federal
Government has received
in the concerted efforts to
find and rescue the schoolgirls.
So far, the United States,
Britain, France, China
and Canada have pledged
to deploy both human resources and technologies
to assist Nigeria in liberating the schoolgirls from the
den of Boko Haram.
He described the abduction as a turning point in
terror activities in the
country, especially in the
North-East that has remained the hotbed of insurgency in the last four
years.
“Foreign governments
have offered to help end the
crisis and the kidnapping
of the girls is the beginning
of the end of terror in Nigeria,” the president said.

He thanked the over
1,000 delegates who attended the forum in spite
of the insurgency in some
parts of the country.
According to him, “your
presence has supported us
in winning the war on terror. If you had refused to
come because of fear, the
terrorists would have jubilated and may have created more havoc, but your
coming here to support us
morally is a major blow to
the terrorists and by God’s
grace we will conquer the
terrorists.”
On the theme of the
WEF, which is “Forging
inclusive growth and creating jobs”, Jonathan said:
“Job creation has been
the main focus of government’s transformation
agenda and it has kept me
up at night.”
He regretted that “in
Africa, the unemployment
problem is compounded by
C O N T I N U E D O N PA G E 5

4

NEWS

Sanctity of Truth

Friday, May 9, 2014

APC asks National Assembly
to probe military spending
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

geria is among the top
troop contributors to
global peacekeeping operations, by virtue of
the acknowledged sterling performance of its
military in the various
missions
“Our military has
also performed creditably in internal security
operations in the past. If
suddenly the ability and
capability of this same
military are being called
to question in the ongoing battle against the
Boko Haram terrorists,
then something must
have gone wrong.
“This is why we are
calling on the National
Assembly to find out
whether or not the soldiers we are sending out
to battle the insurgents
are adequately equipped
to carry out their duties;
to find out whether their
morale is at the right
level; to find out whether
the huge funds being allocated for security are
being used for the right
purposes.
“It is important to find
out whether the huge
funds which are being
deposited into the bank
accounts of politicians,
or being used to lure
them into the ruling
party, are being taken
from the allocation to security, in which case the
purpose for which the
funds were allocated in
the first instance would
have been defeated,”
APC said.
The party said the National Assembly should
not be deterred by those
saying military or security expenditure could
not be probed or those
who would read ‘’political meaning’’ to this call.
“The tendency for
those who want to silence all the voices of
reason to attribute political undertones to any
statement, especially
from the opposition, on
the burning issue of terrorism will not and cannot silence us. We say,
unequivocally, that our
call is in the best interest of the nation, which
is under siege from terrorists, and that it is also
in line with global best
practices.
“During the Iraq war,
the issue of whether or
not the American troops
battling insurgents
across Iraq were adequately provided with
the appropriate body armour and whether their
armoured personnel carriers could withstand the
enemy firepower were

publicly debated without anyone accusing that
country’s opposition of
playing politics with security,” it said.
According to the party, its call became even
more relevant and urgent after a serving senator said on the floor of
the legislative chamber
that during a recent trip
to the Sambisa Forest,
regarded as the stronghold of the terrorists,
the military armoured
personnel carrier that
was escorting his team
broke down.
It said there had also
been stories concerning the low morale of
the troops on the battle
front, cases of soldiers
being given obsolete
guns as well as cases of
desertion.
“We do not know
whether or not these
stories are true. But
what we do know is that
something seems not to
be right with the way
we are waging the war
against these terrorists, and the only way to
know for sure is for the
National Assembly to
ask the pertinent questions,” APC said.
The party also commended the United
States, Britain, China
and all the other countries that have offered to
assist Nigeria to rescue
the over 200 abducted
girls, saying such offer
of assistance was long
overdue, in view of the
global nature of terrorism.
The party expressed
the hope that the assistance would extend beyond the rescue of the
girls to also include all
other strategic initiatives that would help Nigeria to crush the Boko
Haram terrorist group.
It said, however, that
the Jonathan administration must realise that
it is ultimately responsible for the safety and
security of all Nigerians,
hence cannot afford to
shirk its responsibility
in that regard.
Meanwhile, the Defence Headquarters
(DHQ) has warned politicians against exploiting
protests by Civil Society
Organisations (CSOs)
to undermine the ongoing military operations
aimed at rescuing the
abducted students.
Director of Defence
Information (DDI), Maj.
Gen. Chris Olukolade, in
a statement, Nigerians
of the readiness of the
military to rescue the
schoolgirls and to end
the insurgency.

Jonathan, US envoy discuss
details of military support

Anule Emmanuel

P

resident Goodluck
Jonathan yesterday
met with the United
States Ambassador
to Nigeria, Mr. James
Entwistle, to discuss the
details of the offer made by
President Barrack Obama
to assist Nigeria in rescuing over 200 schoolgirls
kidnapped from Government Girls Secondary
School Chibok, Borno
State.
The meeting, in Abuja,
held on the sidelines of the
ongoing World Economic
Forum on Africa.
America is among five
other countries that have
offered assistance to the
Federal Government in
rescuing the abducted

girls.
Jonathan, during the
meeting, according to a
statement by presidential
spokesman, Dr. Reuben
Abati, reiterated Nigeria’s
appreciation of the United
States’ offer to deployment
its security personnel and
assets in the search and
rescue operation.
Others received by Jonathan included the President of Ghana, Mr. John
Mahama and the President
of the ECOWAS Commission, Mr. Kadré Désiré
Ouédraogo, who brought
him a message of solidarity from ECOWAS Heads
of State and Government.
Mahama told Jonathan
that in a bid to support Nigeria’s efforts to rescue the
abducted girls and defeat

terrorism, ECOWAS leaders have decided to invoke
the community’s protocols
on counter-terrorism.
The Ghanaian leader
said a meeting of heads
of intelligence services of
ECOWAS member countries would hold in Accra
next week to work out a
new framework for intelligence sharing in support
of the effort to eradicate
terrorism in Nigeria and
the entire West African
sub region.
Jonathan also had private meetings with Prof.
Klaus Schwab, the founder of the World Economic
Forum, who said Nigeria
deserved the maximum
solidarity of the world at
this trying moment.
He later met with Presi-

dent Jakaya Kikwete of
Tanzania, former President Lula Da Silva of Brazil and the Prime Minister
of Mali, Mr. Moussa Mara
all of who conveyed the
solidarity of their governments and people.
The Secretary-General
of the United Nations, Mr.
Ban Ki Moon, also spoke
with the president on the
phone yesterday to convey
the sympathy and solidarity of the global community
with the government and
people of Nigeria.
Ki Moon assured Jonathan that the United Nations was ready to help
Nigeria to rescue the abducted girls and achieve
greater security of lives
and property in all parts
of the country.

L-R: Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Special Duties, Dr. Aderemi Desalu; Lagos State Commissioner for Special Duties, Dr. Wale Ahmed
and Commissioner of Information and Strategy, Mr. Lateef Ibirogba, at a press briefing in Lagos…recently

PriceWaterhouseCoopers to audit NNPC accounts
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2

youths would be encouraged to go into agriculture.
“Africans want decent
jobs and we should admit that we have those at
the bottom who can’t get
decent jobs so we need to
create social safety nets to
take care of this. We also
need to look at building
skills for our young people,” she stated.
The minister also said
government was striving to address the issue
of infrastructure, stressing that a development
finance institution would
be unveiled before the end
of this year.
The institution will provide long-term funding to
address the developmental
needs of the country, she
said.
“In Nigeria, we have
been doing long-term

development with shortterm money and this is
why we don’t have sustainable growth.
“But we are developing
a development finance
institution that will commence by the end of this
year and this will help us
provide long-term finance
of up to 10 years to address
the developmental needs
of the country,” she said.
Also in his contribution at a WEF session
yesterday, Dangote said
his conglomerate would
invest a total of $12 billion
in Nigeria and $4 billion
outside the country, over
the next four years.
Of the amount, according to Africa’s richest
man, $2.3 billion will go
into investment in sugar
and rice production in the
North.
Dangote also advocated

promotion of intra-trade
among African countries
as the only way to reduce
poverty and provide employment on the continent.
Dangote, who spoke
at the session with the
theme: “Africa Rising”,
regretted that not much
was happening in terms
of trade among African
nations.
According to him, trade
among African countries
in 2012 stood at a mere $100
billion, a figure he said
was less than 15 per cent
of transaction between the
countries and Asia.
“We have to learn to
trade among ourselves
because majority of what
we are consuming are imported from other continents which shows that we
are exporting jobs to those
continents and importing
poverty in return,” he

added.
He also criticised the
attitude of some wealthy
Africans who prefer to
keep their huge resources
overseas as against investing at home.
Calling for change of
attitude from wealthy
Africans, he said their
investment commitment
in Africa would boost the
confidence of other investors to invest in Africa.
He put his investment
in agriculture, his newest
business foray, at $2.3 billion while his total investment in the last five years
has hit $62 billion.
He said about 180,000
jobs would be created
through agriculture following a plan to cultivate
rice and sugar in some
states such as Edo, Adamawa, Kogi, Taraba and
Kano.

NEWS

Sanctity of Truth

Friday, May 9, 2014

5

Fraudsters hack into NNPC GMD’s mail
Adeola Yusuf
Houston, Texas

M

anaging Directors
of top International Oil Companies
(IOCs) and politicians yesterday received
scam letters and phantom
oil contract deals from
the e-mail address of the
Group Managing Director,
Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC),
Engr. Andrew Yakubu.
The management of the
NNPC, which confirmed
this also raised the alarm
over what it termed the desperate attempt by internet
fraudsters to desecrate the

character and person of its
Group Managing Director.
The corporation noted
in a statement by its Group
General Manager, Group
Public Affairs, Ohi Alegbe,
that some hackers and internet scam artists had broken into the personal email
account of the NNPC GMD
early yesterday and have
been using the account to
send all manner of scam
letters and phantom contract deals to some highly
placed contacts within and
outside the oil and gas industry.
The NNPC said days
earlier, some online news
sites were intermittently

flashing a strange icon
which had the photograph
of the NNPC GMD juxtaposed with some members
of the House of Representatives under the caption
“The blackmailers”.
“While we explore all options to arrest this menace,
we wish to advise members
of the public to disregard
any such seemingly juicy
voodoo contract proposals
said to be emanating from
the email address of Engr.
Andrew Yakubu or any
other email address. Anybody who commits to such
transaction is doing so at
his own risk,” the NNPC
said.

On the strange online
icon, the NNPC blamed it
on the handiwork of some
desperate individuals bent
on tarnishing the image
and hard-earned reputation of Yakubu. It notes
that Yakubu is neither a
politician nor one whose
temperament is given to
political chicanery.
“Engr. Andrew Yakubu
is a well-heeled technocrat
who in the last three decades has demonstrated
an abiding commitment
to evolving the NNPC into
an efficient national oil
company with global aspirations. We call on wellmeaning members of the

The total population of Dar es
Salaam, Tanzania in 2010.
Source: Blatantworld.com

public, especially the oil
and gas stakeholders, to
disregard the strange icon
as it has nothing to do with
what the GMD stands for
or represents,” the NNPC
said.

The
corporation
warned that facts available to it indicate that the
campaign of calumny is
likely to continue in the
electronic and print media
in the days ahead.

African leaders signs $700m
MoU to support immunisation

A

frican leaders yesterday signed Memorandum of Understanding
(MoU) of $700 million to
support immunisation and
investment in the health
sector across the region.
The President African
Development Bank (ADB),
Mr. Donald Kaberuka, said
this at the launch of “Immunise Africa 2020 leaders”, at the ongoing 24th
World Economic Forum
on Africa, in Abuja.
Kaberuka said the
amount would help cofinance the purchase of
vaccines by GAVI Allaince
and the bank between 2016
and 2020.
Gavi Alliance is a publicprivate partnership, committed to saving children’s
lives and protecting people’s health by increasing
access to immunisation in
poor countries.
“The investments countries that are making vaccines today will reap enormous benefits in the short
and long term.
“With commitment to
immunisation, African
leaders are taking a bold
step towards securing their
countries’ prosperity and
economic security,” he
said.
Kaberuka explained
that the amount was an addition to the billions of dollars African countries had
already spent on health
services.
He said that strong

progress was being made
on improving the health of
people across Africa.
He urged GAVI Alliance
and its partners to do more
to help continue the decline
in child death rate on the
continent.
President John Mahama of Ghana said that
immunisation was one of
most important treatment
given to children to guarantee their future.
“Immunisation is one
of the most important investments we are making
in our children and in their
future.
“We are committed to
ensuring that vaccine programmes in Ghana will
be sustainable, so that our
children are fully protected
from potentially fatal diseases.”
President Jakaya Kikete of the Republic of Tanzania said immunisation
was the smartest investment that African leaders
could make in the health
sector for the citizen and
for the future of the nations.
“As leaders of this dynamic continent, we will
ensure that our children
have access to the best,
most sustainable technologies to provide them with
the best possible start in
life,” Kikete said.
Other president present
at the launch was President Macky Sall of Republic of Senegal.

our youthful population
and pending demographic transition. As you know
Africa’s population is very
young. Other continents
are “aging”, but Africa’s
population of young people
is growing. African leaders therefore face special
challenges. We have the
challenge to provide jobs,
housing and healthcare.”
McKinsey, a consulting
firm, he said, calculated
that an additional 122 million workers would enter
Africa’s labour force by
2020.
“By 2035, the combined
size of the African labour
force would be greater than
that of the most heavily
populated countries in the

world, including China,”
he added.
He regarded the prediction as “daunting and
should be a wake-up call
to all of us in Africa to
work harder on job creation with a great sense
of urgency. We have a lot
of young people who are
unemployed but who also
do not necessarily have the
required competencies or
skills, even if the jobs are
available and that again, is
a major challenge.”
While shedding more
light on efforts by his
administration to create
more jobs, Jonathan said
the private sector would
be the engine of growth
and job creation, adding
that that was why govern-

ment is devoting considerable energy to supporting
private sector’s growth
such as ensuring stable
macroeconomic environment, low inflation and
exchange rate, investing
in critical infrastructure
and development of skills
of the people.
“After our GDP rebasing exercise, our GDP for
2013 is now estimated at
about $510 billion. Yet, the
quality of our growth has
been less than desirable in
the sense that we are not
creating as many decent
jobs as we need to,” he
said.
The Federal Government, he stated, “focused
on a number of priority sectors which have

high job-creating potential, such as agriculture,
manufacturing, housing
and construction, and the
services sectors. And in
each of these sectors, we
are working to unlock the
various obstacles faced by
businesses so they create
jobs.”
The recent GDP rebasing exercise, according to
him, shows that the service sector now accounts
for about 51 per cent of
the Nigerian economy, up
from 26 per cent.
“So, we are introducing targeted measures to
further harness this sector
by supporting the development of our SMEs. For example, we are working to
develop our housing and

construction sector, given
its potential to create jobs
for our craftsmen and artisans. We also recently
launched our National Industrial Revolution Plan
which will further invigorate our manufacturing
sector,” he said.
Also speaking on the
occasion, Chinese Premier, Mr. Li Keqiang,
described Africa as an
emerging “pole” in world
affairs, saying that in the
international political and
economic landscape “it is
always better to have more
poles in the world than
fewer poles.”
He listed three key reasons why Africa can no
longer be ignored in world
affairs.

According to him, Africa with 54 countries accounts for over “a quarter
of United Nation’s members is increasingly speaking with one voice and
playing an ever increasing
role in the governance of
world affairs” has made
Africa a “major pole in
the world political arena”.
“Second, Africa has a
total population of one
billion and an economic
aggregate of over $2 trillion. Of the world’s 10 fastest growing economies in
2013, seven are in Africa,
which indicates its growing weight in the developing world, Africa is therefore also a major pole in
global economic growth,”
said Keqiang.

6

NEWS

PEACE
Top three contestants
in Ekiti get
commandments from
royal fathers
Stories by Adesina Wahab
Ado-Ekiti

A

s part of their efforts
at ensuring a peaceful
governorship election
on June 21 this year,
traditional rulers in Ekiti
State yesterday committed parties and their candidates to a violence-free
election.
The monarchs, under
the aegis of Ekiti State
Council of Traditional
Rulers, held a stakeholders' meeting in Ado-Ekiti,
where they extracted the
commitment from the can-

Sanctity of Truth

Friday, May 9, 2014

Monarchs commit Fayemi, Fayose,
Bamidele to violence-free polls
didates.
The Chairman of the
Council, the Onitaji of
Itaji-Ekiti, Oba Adamo Babalola, who chaired the occasion, also sounded a note
of warning to traditional
rulers over complaints by
some candidates that some
monarchs were actively
into partisan politics.
"The Monarchs are enjoined to accommodate all
candidates. We should not
play to the gallery. We are
Obas," Oba Babalola said.
He also warned security agencies, the Federal
Government and the In-

dependent National Electoral Commission (INEC)
against compromising
fairness, justice and objectivity in the conduct of
the election.
The Onitaji urged all
candidates and their parties to play the game according to the rule.
"They should not maintain thugs or sponsor violence. It is assumed that if
the followers of any candidate cause any disturbance, it is the candidate
who sponsored it. No one
should taunt opponents to
avoid clashes and if party

A is billed to campaign in
a place on a particular day,
party B should avoid campaigning in the same place,
same day and same time,"
he said.
In his remarks, Governor Kayode Fayemi of
the All Progressives Congress (APC), said it was not
competition that was the
bane, but unhealthy competition.
The candidate of Labour Party (LP), Hon.
Opeyemi Bamidele, while
listing a number of instances where his supporters had been attacked,

blamed the situation on
tyranny of the incumbency.
He alleged that places
where his team had been
attacked were the home
towns of people in government.
In his remarks, the Accord party candidate, Mr
Kole Ajayi, accused APC
members of fomenting
trouble across the state
and mentioned the case
where some APC members in Aramoko-Ekiti
attacked his members,
while erecting his billboard.

The Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP) candidate, former Governor Ayo Fayose,
also pledged the support of
his party to the initiative.
Other candidates present at the meeting included
those of United Democratic Party (UDP), the Social
Democratic Party (SDP),
Alliance for Democracy
(AD), Citizens Party, Mega
Party, the National Conscience Party (NCP) and
Kowa Party.
Others were: ACPN, Action Alliance, People Party
of Nigeria (PPN) among
others.

My choice of deputy is divine – Fayose

F

ormer Governor of
Ekiti State, Mr Ayodele
Fayose, yesterday said
the selection of Dr Olusola
Ojo, a university lecturer
as his running mate in the
coming June 21 poll was
divine.
Fayose, the governorship candidate of the
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the election,
said in Otunja-Ekiti,
Ikole Local Government
that he sought God's
guidance on who would
be his running mate in
the poll and that it was
after he prayerfully
asked God for direction
that the lot fell on Ojo.
He was clarifying the
air on why he chose Ojo as
running mate instead of a
known politician.
He dispelled insinuations that his choice of the
Associate Professor at the
Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State
was strategically hinged

on Ojo's solid academic
qualifications.
He also debunked the
rumour that he went for
Ojo because he (Fayose)
did not trust a politician
as deputy.
He said; “The choice
of my deputy, Dr Olusola
Ojo, is God ordained. I
presented eight people to
God and God chose him
for me. I prayed to God to
direct me according to His
will. It was purely a divine
inspiration.
“But I had earlier preferred somebody that was
apolitical for reasons best
known to me. But in clear
terms, I did not choose him
because of his qualifications.
“Though I quite appreciate the fact that education
is essential in governance,
you don’t need to be a Doctor or Professor before you
can add value to the lives
of your people”, Fayose
said.

Fayemi is 'Awolowo' of our
time, says Oba Adejugbe

L-R: Governorship Aspirant, Labour Party, Mr. Bamidele Opeyemi, Ekiti State, Governor Kayode Fayemi; and Governorship Candidate, Accord
Party, Mr. Kole Ajayi, during a meeting with all the governorship aspirants and party leaders, at the instance of the State's Council of Obas, in
Ado-Ekiti... yesterday

17.5%

The percentage of individuals using the
internet in developing countries in 2009.
Source: Itu.int

8.43m

The total population of Tehran, Iran in 2010.
Source:Blatantworld.com

...As city stands still for apc rally

APC, PDP trade, words

Ado-Ekiti traditional
Tdayheinstitution
on Wednesendorsed the re-

he Kayode Fayemi
Ttion,
Campaign Organisayesterday accused

election bid of Governor
Kayode Fayemi, describing the him as "Awolowo
of our time".
The Ewi of Ado-Ekiti,
Oba Rufus Adeyemo Adejugbe, who received Governor Fayemi in his palace,
described the first four years
of the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate as "remarkable, unprecedented
and unforgettable in the
history of the city and the
entire state".
The traditional ruler
likened Governor Fayemi's
strides in Ekiti to those witnessed during the premiership of the late sage, Chief
Obafemi Awolowo in the old
Western Region.
Unable to hide his joy
on the Fayemi administration's urban renewal which
has changed the face of

Ado-Ekiti and turned it
into a worthy state capital,
Oba Adejugbe told the huge
crowd that stormed his palace in solidarity with the
governor that "Awolowo
has resurrected in Ekiti".
The governor paid a
visit to the Ewi's palace
on Wednesday at the commencement of his two-day
electioneering campaign
around the city.
Fayemi's royal visit was
turned into a big carnival by
indigenes of Ado-Ekiti who
turned out in large numbers
to usher the governor into
the palace with trumpeting,
singing and dancing.
Oba Adejugbe said
what Fayemi has done in
his kingdom has brought
joy to all sons and daughters of Ado-Ekiti at home
and abroad praying, that
Fayemi will realize his
dream of taking the state
to greater heights.

the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP) of planning
to rig the June 21 election
in Ekiti State by placing
leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC)
under house arrest on the
day of the election.
In a statement in AdoEkiti by the Head of Media of the campaign outfit, Dimeji Daniels, the
plan was to create fear in
the minds of the followers of such leaders, who
might become jittery and
decide to stay away from
polling units, thereby
leading to voter apathy.
"This plan is to be executed with fake policemen, who are currently
being recruited and
trained by the PDP.
"Some of these fake policemen trained in Osun

and Ondo states are already assigned to the
PDP candidate, Ayodele
Fayose, and his Labour
Party (LP) co-conspirator,
Opeyemi Bamidele," he
alleged.
In a swift reaction, the
Head of Media, Ayo Fayose Campaign Organisation, Chief Gboyega Aribisogan, described the
allegation as fallacious.
"This is not only a fallacy, but it shows what the
APC people are planning
to do. They are liars and
any sinister motive they
plan to implement is what
they will always want to
lay on the neck of the
opposition," Aribisogan
said.
He urged the people
of the state to disregard
the cry by the APC, saying the APC had become
jittery over its imminent
defeat at the poll.

184.8m

The population of Pakistan (representing
2.67% of world’s population) in 2010.
Source: Blatantworld.com

Defection: Former
loyalists disown Oni
upporters of former EkiSSegun
ti State Governor, Chief
Oni, including his

deputy while in office, Dr
Sikiru Tae Lawal, have
said Oni is on a lone journey to the All Progressives
Congress (APC) from the
Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP).
The people, who yesterday said this in Afao-Ekiti,
added that they would never follow Oni to the APC
and pledged to remain in
the PDP.
Lawal's declaration
coincided with that of
former Chairman of Ado
Local Government, during Oni's tenure,Mrs Tosin
Aluko, , who also vowed
not to quit the PDP with
her supporters.
Lawal and Aluko, who
led scores of other erstwhile loyalists of the for-

mer governor to the home
of PDP candidate, Mr Ayo
Fayose, on a solidarity visit, said they would rather
pitch their tent with Fayose.
According to them,
Fayose represented the
conscience of PDP in the
state, and had all it takes
to win next month's gubernatorial election for
the party.
They described the ruling APC as a failed party
that must be checkmated
by a PDP-led government.
In his response, Fayose
expressed gratitude to the
gladiators for identifying
with him openly.
He pledged not to let
PDP down in the election,
with a pledge to ensure
that all of them were adequately compensated if
the party wins the poll.

NEWS

Sanctity of Truth

Friday, May 9, 2014

INSURANCE

Seven months
after their beloved
ones perished in air
mishap, families
get something off
Associated airlines
Wole Shadare

I

t was an emotional scene
yesterday for the 16 relations of people who
died in the Associated
Airlines Limited ill-fated
plane crash of October 3,
2013.
They came in quietly to
the airline’s office at Adeniyi Jones Street, Ikeja
to collect the payment of
$30, 000 which is the first
tranche of compensation
for families involved in
plane crashes as stipulated
by the International Civil
Aviation Organisation
(ICAO), the global aviation
regulatory body.
Representatives of the
Nigerian Civil Aviation

27.5%

7

Relatives get Associated Airlines'
$480,000 compensation
l Firm promises balance of $11.2 million
Authority (NCAA) were
in attendance to monitor
the disbursement of the
funds.
The Montreal Convention of 1999 states that airlines wishing to operate
on domestic routes shall
adopt the approved liability limits in line with the
requirement of the ICAO
which states that the airline shall pay compensation in the case of death,
or injury of passengers
of $100, 000 per person,
destruction, loss or delay
of baggage shall be $1, 000
and destruction, loss, damage or delay of cargo shall
be $20 per kilo.
International flights
are governed by the Mon-

The percentage of individuals using the
internet in developing countries in 2012.
Source: Itu.int

treal Convention, an international air carrier treaty
adopted in 1999 by the
ICAO, a United Nations
agency.
If the airline is found
at fault for an accident, the
Montreal Convention stipulates that it is liable for up
to $113,100 special "drawing rights" per passenger,
a value established by the
International Monetary
Fund (IMF). The value
changes regularly, and for
now equals about $170,000
per passenger in the United States of America.
Associated Airline
however disclosed that the
balance of $70, 000 would
be paid as quickly as possible when other matters

1.92m

The total area (in sq. km) of Indonesia.
Source: Worldfactsandfigures.com

pertaining to documentation would have been
resolved.In all, the airline
paid out $480, 000 to the
victims’ families.
The relatives were individually presented with
“certificate of release and
discharge”, which would
enable them to process the
funds domiciled with Skye
Bank.
Among those who died
in the crash which occurred within the Murtala Muhammed Airport,
Lagos were Tunji Okusanya, Samson Hassan,
Deji Falae, Rajeem Bernard, Kingsley Amaechi,
Yakubu Lateefa.
Others were Abdulkareem Ibraheem, Kola

22,000

The number of fixed-telephone subscriptions of Guinea in 2009.
Source: Itu.int

Oyinlola, Bisi Awoyomi
and Chijioke Duru among
others.
Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Operating
Officer of the airline, Mr.
Taiwo Raji, stated that
there were insinuations
immediately after the
crash that the carrier was
shirking its responsibility
to do the needful.

“We have been meeting with our insurers but
it has been very slow. We
are working with them to
resolve the whole issue.
The insurers and the airline have resolved to 30
per cent of what should
be paid now while the 70
per cent balance will also
be paid later as quickly as
possible.”

undreds of women
in Nasarawa State
yesterday marched to
the Government House
Lafia, the state capital,
protesting the abduction
of female students of the
Government Girls College, Chibok, Borno state.
Some of the protesting women wore black
clothes and carried placards with inscriptions
like: “Our girls girls are
our hope”,”We want them
back now”. They also
chanted.
The women, made up

of both the state's chapter
of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN)
Women Wing and the Federation of Muslim Women
of Nigeria (FUMWAN)
were received by the Secretary to the State Government, Hajiya Zainab Abdulmumini, amidst tight
security.
Speaking separately,
the Amira FUMWAN and
CAN Women chairperson,
Hanatu Kabir and Mrs
Lydia Attah condemned
the abduction of the
schoolgirls and called on
government to do everything necessary to secure
their release .

he controversy surrounding the ambition of a frontline
governorship aspirant
in Cross River State, Mr.
Goddy Jeddy-Agba, took a
new twist on Wednesday
when the State Chairman
of the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP), Ntufam John
Okon, declared that he
(Jeddy-Agba) was not “a
card carrying member of
the party.”
Jeddy-Agba is the General Manager (Crude) of
the Nigerian National
Petroleum Corporation
(NNPC) whose ambition
to run for the governorship in the state has ruffled many feathers.
In an exclusive inter-

Jeddy-Agba not a member
of C’River PDP - Okon
view with New Telegraph,
Ntufam Okon said his office did not have any evidence that Jeddy-Agba is
a PDP member “because
he is a civil servant.”
Asked if the NNPC
manager is a PDP member, Okon said; “No. Not
to my knowledge. He is
not a member of PDP for
now. If he comes in and
asks to be registered, we
will register him. There
are procedures for registration. As far as we are
concerned, Jeddy-Agba is
not a card-carrying member of PDP in the state.”

When told that Agba’s
supporters claim that he
had been registered at the
ward level, the chairman
asked; “How can he be registered at the ward level
and we are not aware?
Who put him in the ward?
The ward cannot register
a civil servant. There is a
rule that the Ward cannot
register a civil servant.
He cannot come and say
he wants to contest on the
platform of the party because we will look at the
constitution.”
On whether the controversy generated by Agba’s

ambition is not a sign of
an impending crisis, the
former Clerk to the State
House of Assembly said
what is happening is not
crisis “but a trend.”
“We are a cohesive
party and serious aspirants are working within
the rules. I can assure
you that what is happening now is not crisis. It is
called “trend”. Naturally,
there are interests and
I can beat my chest and
say we have been able to
accommodate genuine
interests and we will continue to do so,” he said.

he Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS)
Adamawa State Command yesterday arrested
45 suspected illegal aliens
in Yola.
Speaking while parading the suspects in Yola,
the stale Controller of
NIS, Alhaji Rauf Adeboyega, said the arrest
was part of the renewed
effort by the command
to check illegal immigration.
Adeboyega said the
aliens, comprising 36 men
and nine women, were
from neighboring countries and would be eased

out accordingly.
"We are not saying that
foreigners should not
come into the country,
but when they are coming
they should come with
their valid documents
so that we will be able to
identify them.
"It will make our job of
monitoring their activities in the country easier,"
Adeboyega said.
He lauded the support
of the public, particularly community leaders
in exposing such aliens,
adding that with the current security challenges,
the public needed to be
more security-conscious
and support security
agencies.

Bayelsa assures envoy on
release of kidnapped Dutchmen

B

ayelsa State Governor,
Seriake Dickson, has
assured the Dutch Ambassador to Nigeria, John
Groffen, that everything
was being done to secure
the release of three Dutch
nationals kidnapped at
Letugbene community in
Ekeremor Local Government Area of the state.
Chief Press Secretary
to the state governor, Daniel Iworiso-Markson, in a
statement yesterday said
the governor who gave
the assurance, when the
Ambassador visited him
at the Bayelsa House in

Abuja, expressed regret
over the incident, adding that the government
in collaboration with the
security agencies was
working round the clock
to ensure the safe release
of the victims.
He noted however that
the three Dutch nationals were escorted into
the Niger Delta, through
Warri in Delta State, by a
Non-Government Agency
(NGO), without any notice
to the governments or security agencies of either
Bayelsa or Delta states,
until they were abducted.

Ekiti 2014

8

NEWS

Sanctity of Truth

Friday, May 9, 2014

Oyo women hold prayers for Chibok girls
Sola Adeyemo
housands of Oyo State
women led by the
wife of the governor,
Mrs. Florence Ajimobi
yesterday converged
on the Lekan Salami
Stadium, Adamasingba,
Ibadan, for an inter-

T

denominational
prayer rally for divine
intervention in the
release of the abducted
Chibok schoolgirls.
Ajimobi used the occasion to call on the Federal Government and
security agencies in the
country to do the needful
in ensuring that Nigeria

becomes safe once again.
While speaking after
the prayer session, Mrs.
Ajimobi lamented that
rather than taking decisive action on the perpetrators of the abduction,
the nation has been inundated with trivialities
and unexpected drama
from the leadership.

he National Executive
Committee (NEC) of
the All Progressives
Congress (APC) has been
scheduled to hold next
week Tuesday at the party’s
National Secretariat, Abuja.

The meeting according
to a source within the party would be preceded by a
meeting of the governors
of the party in Kano on
Sunday.
This, however, was
confirmed by the Interim
National Publicity Secretary
of the party, Alhaji Lai

Mohammed, who spoke with
New Telegraph on telephone.
He said the meeting was a
regular NEC meeting of the
party.
New Telegraph gathered
that the outcome of the Kano
meeting by the governors
would form the agenda of
the Tuesday’s NEC meeting.

ounder of the O’odua
Peoples
Congress
(OPC), Dr. Fredrick
Fasehun, yesterday said
that the bane of the
country’s progress was its
cash and carry politics.
Fasheun, also the leader
of the newly formed Unity
Party of Nigeria (UPN),
who flayed the corruption
and non-accountability
of the present crop of Ni-

gerian leaders, wondered
why those he referred to
as “generation of vipers,”
have looted everything
at local, state and federal
levels.
He said unless Nigeria
is set free by a vanguard
of female stakeholders, the
current suffering and smiling in the hands of “an
army of locusts” would
continue.
Speaking as a guest
speaker during the seventh anniversary cum

award conference tagged;
“Gender Balancing: The
Place of the Nigeria
Woman in 21st Century
Politics,” put together by
Kate Onianwa, a lawyer,
in Asaba, Delta State,
the OPC chieftain maintained that an army of politically-savvy Nigerians
must be raised to support
honest, compassionate
and visionary woman to
take over power if Nigeria must outlive its present predicament.

Illegal taxes: Oshiomhole reads riot act to LG bosses
Cajetan Mmuta

BENIN

E

do State Governor,
Adams Oshiomhole,
yesterday
asked
the chairmen of local
governments in the state to
desist from the collection
of illegal taxes in their
council areas, saying only
legitimate and approved
taxes must be collected.

Oshiomhole, who also
warned against double
taxation, said it amounts to
extortion of the taxpayers
if he was made to pay tax to
both the state government
and local government on
the same matter.
The governor gave the
order during a meeting
with the chairmen of the
18 local government areas of the state held at the

Government House, Benin
City, the state capital.
Oshiomhole said: “Our
local governments must
be careful on the issue
of revenue collection. I
recognise the legitimacy
of tax collection. Everywhere in the world,
taxes are paid. Government needs it to run and
provide services to the
people.

Boat mishap: Fashola orders compulsory use of life jackets
Muritala Ayinla
agos State Governor,
Babatunde Fashola,
yesterday ordered the
compulsory use of life
jackets for commuters
on Lagos waterways
even as he decried the
stealing of navigational
signs on waterways by

L

unscrupulous individuals.
The governor’s marching order followed frequent
boat mishaps in some parts
of the state which claimed
lives of residents and left
many injured, a development that hinders government’s campaign to commuters to embrace water
transportation in the state.

But speaking at the inauguration of a life jacket
distribution exercise in
Ebute-Ojo Jetty in Ojo
area of the state, Governor
Fashola said the state government championed the
responsibility of providing
life jackets to avert further
loss of lives, arising from
non-usage of the jackets.

Group, FOMWAN to partner on maternal/neonatal care
Ugo Willies

GOMBE

T

he Society for Family
Health yesterday said
it was partnering the
Federation of Muslim
Women Association of
Nigeria
(FOMWAN)
and Traditional Birth

Attendants in improving
maternal and neonatal
care in the North-East subregion.
Project Director for the
Society for Family Health,
Fatima Mohammed, stated
thisduringaone-daymaternal
and neo-natal health learning
project for Traditional Birth

Attendants and FOMWAN
volunteers held yesterday in
Gombe.
She said the Society for
Family Health had, between
December 2009 and April
2011, conducted a maternal
and neonatal health learning phase as well as support
public sector health facilities.

Charles Onyekwere
PORT HARCOURT

T

he
Rivers
State
command of
the
Federal Road Safety
Corps (FRSC), has warned
motorists plying highways
in the state to be wary while
driving to avoid mishap.

State sector command
of the FRSC, Mr. Sunday
Oghemekaro, stated this
at the flagging off to mark
the maiden edition of
West Africa Road Safety
Organization (WARCO)
held yesterday in Port
Harcourt.
The West Africa Road

Safety Day is set aside by
the West Africa Road Safety
Organisation, which is the
umbrella body instituted
by member countries of
the region, following the
need for a Sub-Regional
Road Safety Organ that will
co-ordinate road activities
within the region.

Ajaokuta Steel key to national transformation – NLC
Muhammad Bashir

Lokoja

N

ational President of the
Nigeria Labour Congress
(NLC),
Comrade
Abdulwaheed
Omar,
has said that the ailing
Ajaokuta Steel Company
will play a major role in the

transformation programme
of the current government,
if completed.
The NLC president
stated this yesterday in
Ajaokuta during a facility
tour of the steel plant by
the labour leadership.
He said the steel company has what it takes to

compete favourably in the
international steel market.
While commending the
president for his attention on
the steel company, Omar said
the current management
team of the steel should continueintheireffortsatprotecting and managing the multibillion naira steel project.

Ondo trauma centre offers free screening, dialysis

O

ver a thousand people
thronged the Ondo
Medical Village to
benefit from the free
screening and dialysis
programme offered by
the kidney centre which
ended yesterday. The village
houses the trauma, surgical
and kidney centres, among

others.
The three-day programme was held in collaboration with the Care
for Life Catholic Centre
under the Catholic Diocese
of Ondo. The screening exercise was part of a health
conference organised at
the centre with the theme:

Sudden Death - Health Care
Challenges and Prevention.
A total of 1, 018 people
together with an earlier free
screening exercise carried
out by the centre in February, 2014 were in attendance.
There were 355 men and 663
women of between two and
100 years for both gender.

SEPLAT named WEF global growth company

T

he World Economic
Forum has named
SEPLAT Petroleum
Company Development
Company Plc a Global
Growth Company (GGC).
With this recognition,
SEPLAT joins a vibrant
community of the world’s
most dynamic, influential
and high-growth companies. Companies are judged

on their compliance with
set criteria - growth, global corporate citizenship,
executive leadership and
impact on the competitive
landscape of their region or
industry.
Commenting on the rationale behind SEPLAT’s
recognition as a global
growth company, Managing Director and Head

of the new champions
at the World Economic
Forum, David Aikman,
said; “When choosing
entrants to our community of global growth
companies, we assess
companies on their business model, annual revenues and growth rates,
executive leadership and
market position.

Oyinlola’s SSG declares governorship ambition
Adeolu Adeyemo

OSOGBO

F

ormer
Secretary
to the Osun State
Government during the
administration of Governor
Olagunsoye Oyinlola and
a gubernatorial aspirant
under the platform of
the Labour Party (LP) in

the state, Alhaji Akinade
Akinbade, yesterday
declared his governorship
intention under the
platform of the party.
He warned the electorate
not to allow themselves to
be bought over by desperate
politicians who are vying
for the same position.
Akinbade, who dropped

the warning at the official
declaration of his intention for the position at the
Nelson Mandela Freedom
Park, Osogbo, advised the
electorate to cast their
votes for their choice candidates and turn down financial inducement that
could come from any politician.

Northern govs condole with FCT Minister over mother’s death
Dan Atori

MINNA

T

he
Norther n
States Governors’
Forum (NSGF) has
commiserated with the
Minister of the Federal
Capital
Ter ritory
(FCT), Senator Bala
Abdulkadir Mohammed,
over the death of his

mother, Hajiya Aisha
Mohammed.
Chairman of the forum and Governor of Niger State, Dr. Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu, described
the death of Hajiya Aisha
as a big loss to Senator
Mohammed and the entire people of the FCT,
especially that it came
at a critical period when

her parental support is
needed to help resolve
the myriad of challenges
confronting the nation.
A condolence message
signed by Governor Aliyu’s spokesman, Danladi
Ndayebo, urged the FCT
minister to be consoled
by the fact that it is only
God that gives and takes
life whenever He pleases.

he Lagos State government yesterday
said the United
States’ terror alert
on Lagos has no negative impact on the state’s
economy.
It said adequate and
proactive measures had
been put in place to forestall any harmful impact
of the alarm on the state’s
commerce and industry.
This was as it also said
that its locked-up capital,
otherwise known as dead
capital, has reduced from
N7.615 trillion to N7.22 trillion.
Briefing journalists
on activities of her ministry in the last one year
at the 2014 ministerial
press briefing held at the
State secretariat, Commissioner for Commerce

US terror alert has no impact on
economy – Lagos govt
and Industry, Mrs. Olusola Oworu, who made the
disclosure, said the terror
alert by the United States
had no effect on the state’s
commerce and industry in
the past week.
She said: “As far as I
know, it had no effect on
commerce and industry
within the last week. More
importantly, because the
state government already
has in place a mechanism
to ensure security of lives
and property in the state.
“Just recently, the state
governor presented patrol
vans and motorbikes to
police authorities to enhance the effectiveness of
monitoring security and
activities in the state. This
is an ongoing process, we
will continue in what we
are doing to improve the
security of lives and property in the state.”
Oworu said the dead
capital represents the
economic potential of

New polls results says
Jonathan has done well
Siaka Momoh

A

recent governance
polls’ results released by NOIPolls
for the month of April
2014, has revealed that
less than half of Nigeria’s adult population,
about 49 per cent, approve of the job performance of President
Goodluck Jonathan.
This represents a
4-point decline from
March 2014 and a 1-point
drop from his 16-month average of 50 per cent. More
findings revealed that
based on the transformation agenda, the President
has maintained a ‘very
poor’ ranking on his performance in security,
power and job creation
while maintaining average ranking on economy,
education, foreign policy
and diplomacy, health,
agriculture and food security and transportation.
The poll also revealed
that the power situation
in the country still showed
no improvement in April
2014 as 71 per cent of Nigerians affirmed that power
supply to their households

have worsened/seen no
difference over the past
one month; the same rating from March 2014, following a continuous decline since January 2014.
Similarly, the SouthSouth region was reported to have experienced
the worst power supply of
about 75 per cent, followed
by the South-West, 57 per
cent; South-East, 51 per
cent; North-West, 51 per
cent; North-East, 44 per
cent and North-Central,
41 per cent.
These are some of the
key findings from the
Governance Snap Poll
conducted in the last week
of April 2014.

the extra-legal sector that
is not utilised due to institutional restrictions,
adding that the estimate
represents about 14 times
the state budget, using

Year 2012 as a basis and
11 times the traded stock
in the Nigerian Stock Exchange in 2012.
She continued: “The
locked up capital by the

B

9

lion). Dead capital represents the economic potential of the extralegal
sector that is not utilised
due to institutional restrictions.”

The percentage of individuals using the internet in Colombia in 2009.
Source: Blatantworld.com

$US169.5bn

The nominal GDP of Chile (IMF) in 2009.
Source: Blatantworld.com

200,000

The number of internally displaced persons
(IDPs) of Ethiopia in 2009.
Source: Blatantworld.com

Kwankwaso signs child labour bill into law
Muhammad Kabir
KANO

K

ano State Governor,
Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, has signed the
Kano Child Labour
Prohibition Bill and three
other bills into law. The
others are the Residents
Registration Agency Law,
Kano State Entrepreneurship and Vocational Studies Law and the Micro Finance Agency Law.”
Shortly after assenting
to the bills at the Government House, Kano, Gov-

ernor Kwankwaso, who
spoke extensively on the
Child Labour Bill, explained that henceforth,
any person found exploiting children in the state
would be prosecuted.
Governor Kwankwaso
said the law stipulates
two years in prison for
offenders, a fine of N50,
000 or both with a view to
discouraging child exploitation.
The other bills signed
into law by the governor
were enacted in order to
obtain accurate data on

Insecurity: Dickson calls for vigilance in Bayelsa
ayelsa State governor,
Seriake Dickson, has
urged non-indigenes
in the state to be vigilant,
especially in the face of
the current security challenges facing the country.
Governor Dickson
gave the advice while addressing non-indigenes
at a reception held in his
honour during his ‘thank
you’ visit to the Supreme

informal sector, otherwise called dead capital
associated with business
and real estate in the state
is presently estimated at
$45.13 billion (N7.22 tril-

NEWS

Council for Non-Indigenes at the Peace Park,
Yenagoa.
He told them to see
security of lives and
property as a collective
responsibility and not
allow suspicious characters infiltrate their ranks
while they should report
any suspicious person or
movement to law enforcement agencies for prompt

action.
The governor also
urged them to remain
peaceful and law-abiding, noting that the state
was now one of the most
peaceful states in the
country as a result of the
people’s support.
He thanked the nonindigenes for supporting
him during and after the
governorship election.

the people living in the
state, to protect the 24 institutes established by the
present administration
as well as to encourage
the people to engage in
productive economic ventures.
Meanwhile, the governor has received five awards
of excellence from the Kano
State Community Development Organisation for en-

hancing environmental hygiene in the state; from the
Kano State Pharmaceutical Technology Students
for promoting technical
education; the Kano State
Cabin Crew Students for
making them professionals, Rotary Organisation
for the eradication of Polio
and from the World Environmental Management
for beautifying the state.

FG lauded for funding
constituency projects
Ibrahim Abdul
YOLA

T

he Federal Government has been
commended for providing and sustaining
funding for the execution
of constituency projects
in the country.
Member of the House
of Representatives Hon.
Aishatu Dahiru (PDPYola North/Yola South/
Girei) federal constituency
made the commendation

yesterday at the flag-off of
her free medical treatment
under the constituency
project in Yola.
“Let me use the opportunity to thank Mr.
President and the Federal
Government for continuously providing funds to
support members of the
National Assembly in the
implementation of zonal
constituency projects very many of these projects have direct bearings
on the lives of our people.”

INSURGENCY
Pressure groups rule
out religion in the
abduction of Borno
school girls
Tunde Oyesina
Abuja

C

ivil Society Organisations (CSOs) made
up of about 60 rights’
groups yesterday said
the Federal Government
was not serious about
dealing with the problem
of insecurity in the country.
Reacting against the

13.77m

background of the abduction of 276 girls in Chibok,
Borno State and the twin
bomb blast that occurred
in Nyanya, an outskirt of
the Federal Capital Territory FCT, Abuja, leaving
about 100 people dead and
several others injured, the
CSOs called on the Federal
Government to outline its
strategies of apprehending the insurgents, who
abducted the school girls
and perpetrators of the
bomb explosion.
Briefing newsmen at
the end of its situation report held in Abuja, spokesperson of the group, Clem
Nwakwo, said the abduction of the girls has nothing to do with religion or

The total population of Ecuador (representing 0.2% of world’s population) in 2010.
Source: Blatantworld.com

ethnicity, calling on those
linking the abduction
with such to desist.
“The issue is that our
girls have been abducted
and we want them back.
The abduction has nothing to do with the religion
of the abducted girls or the
ethnic group they come
from. We do not want religion to demobilise the
international dimension
this issue has taken.
“The only way to face
the security challenge is
to include citizens’ participation, military alone
cannot face insecurity,”
Nwakwo said.
The CSOs also expressed worry about the
growing economic crisis

N2.8bn

The IGR realized from PAYE (taxes) of Kogi
State in 2012.
Source: National Bureau of Statistics

of Nigeria, especially the
unprecedented levels of
unemployment, poverty,
collapse of infrastructure
and the unparalleled corruption in the country.
It, however, called on
the government to take
steps to curtail corruption.
“There is also a strong
need for rural communities to be better protected
all over the country due
to the high migration of
people seeking refuge
from terrorists. Communities also have to take
precaution by monitoring strangers/visitors to
the communities. This
was common practice in
Damaturu, Yobe State.

20,000

The total number of internet users on
Liberia in 2007.
Source: Blatantworld.com

Ado-Ekiti

L

egal luminary, Chief
Afe Babalola (SAN),
has charged lawyers
in the country to rise up
to the challenge of insecurity in the country by
using their ‘special position’ to save the country.
Babalola, who gave
the charge at the opening
of the 2014 Law Week of
the Ado Ekiti branch of
Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) on Wednesday, said as lawyers, “We
are in a special position
to join the nation to ensure that the worse does
not become the worst.”
He was reacting to the

position of the branch
Chairman, Mr. Joseph
Adewumi, in his opening speech on the occasion that “all indices
of a failed nation or
democratic governance
are staring us in the
face” and that “except
the drowning ship of
democratic governance
is urgently arrested, the
ship may be heading for
a terminal head-on collision sooner than later.”
Chief Babalola, however, said: “About three
years ago, the United
States warned Nigeria
that come 2015, there
may be no Nigeria again.
All the indices seem to
point to that now.

araba State chapter of
the National Council
for Women Societies
(NCWS) on Wednesday
led women associations
in the state on a one-day
prayer and fasting session for the abducted
Chibok schoolgirls in the
state capital, Jalingo.
The women were
seeking God’s face for
the abductees that had
been held by Boko Haram insurgents for more
than three weeks now.
The women also called
on God to intervene so
that the girls would be
released to their parents
unharmed.
Addressing the gathering, state President of
the NCWS, Mrs. Virginia
Baba Bambur, said the
programme was organised on the directive of
the national headquar-

ters of the council, to cry
unto God on behalf of
the abducted schoolgirls.
She said she was confident that God, who controls the world, will make
a way and the girls would
be released to reunite
with their loved ones.
Elsewhere, the state
chapter of the Federation
of Muslim Women Association of Nigeria (FOMWAN) also held a prayer
session for the abducted
schoolgirls.
Taraba State Head of
FOMWAN, Hajiya Mariya Ibrahim Bello, called
on women to be persistent
in their prayers for God
to intervene in the release
of the young schoolgirls.
The women also prayed
for unity and peace in Nigeria as well as the security agents and leaders at
all levels, to have divine
wisdom and understanding in the discharge of
their duties.

orkers in Benue
State are now living in fear of losing
their jobs following Governor Gabriel Suswam’s
pronouncement to downsize the workforce in the
state.
The governor said this
was necessary to enable
him meet the demands
of teachers that had been
on strike in the last six
months.
Governor Suswam

change of name

Ojimba

I, formerly Chinenye Sandra Ogbu, now wish to be
called and addressed as
Mrs. Chinenye Esther Sandra Ojimba. All other documents remain valid. ESUT
and NYSC please take note.

over teachers’ strike
said at least 40 per cent
of the workers are to be
affected in the impending
exercise, explaining that
the massive sack would
further guarantee the future of the Benue child.
Already, the governor
said he has directed that
names of civil servants
likely to be affected be
complied for necessary
action.
Speaking during the
flag-off of fertilizer sales
and distribution at Zaki
Biam in Ukum Local Government area yesterday,
the governor said this became inevitable following
the teachers’ strike and
the need to bring them
back to the classrooms.

He lamented that the
meagre allocation accruing to the state was not
enough to cater for the
needs of the teachers,
adding that the only panacea towards ending the
impasse was to retrench
workers.
Governor Suswam,
who announced the
price of a bag of fertilizer as N3, 300 against the
market price of N5, 500,
warned against diversion
of the commodity by middlemen.
He acknowledged the
resilience and contribution of the people towards
the return of peace in the
area, especially during
the recent Fulani inva-

T

sion in the state, imploring them to continue to
protect their land against
invasion while pledging
government’s continued
support for the people.
Earlier, Commissioner
of Agriculture, Mr. Donald Amokaha Gbugho,
commended the giant
strides of the governor
in the agricultural sector, saying arrangements
have been completed with
the Federal Government
to increase Benue farmers’ participation in the
e-Wallet Fertilizer Distribution Project under the
Growth Enhancement
Support (GES) Scheme of
the Agricultural Transformation Agenda.

he United States
navy has officially
transferred the former Coast Guard Cutter
Gallatin into the hands
of the Nigerian Navy.
The Gallatin was offered to Nigeria April
24, 2013, through the
United States Foreign
Assistance Act and
was decommissioned
from the United States
Coast Guard service on
March 31, 2014.
During the ceremony,
US Coast Guard Chief
Acquisition Officer,
Rear Admiral Bruce
Baffer and Nigerian
Minister of State for
Defence, Musiliu Obanikoro, signed transfer
documents in front of
United States and Nigerian spectators, marking the official handoff

of the ship to Nigeria.
Baffer said the transfer was bittersweet, but
said he that he believes
the ship, now renamed
NNS Okpabana, will
provide valuable service to Nigeria.
Minister of State
for Defence, Senator
Musiliu Obanikoro,
who received the vessel on behalf of Nigeria, thanked the United
States navy for their
consistent support to
the country.
He said the ship will
strengthen Nigeria’s
ability to combat terrorism and illegal activities in the country.
“I am glad to know that
American support has
greatly enhanced the
capacity of the Nigerian navy,” he said.

NEWS

Sanctity of Truth

Friday, May 9, 2014

11

South-East govs mourn Oputa Abia indigenes top list
EULOGY

Governors from the
S/East celebrate one
of the nation's best
judges
Ikechukwu Ucheoma
Umuahia

G

overnors of the
South-East states
have expressed
sadness over news
of the transition of Justice Chukwudifu Oputa.
They however celebrated his life as a shining
example of the Igbo phi-

3.75m

losophy of hard work,
diligence and thirst for
excellence.
In a statement signed
by the Governor of Abia
State and Chairman,
South-East Governors
Forum, Chief Theodore
Orji and made available
to journalists in Umuahia, the governors said
the zone and indeed
Nigeria has lost an illustrious personality in
Justice Oputa.
They noted that as the
eminent jurist battled
with illness, "we were
with him in prayers,
hoping that he would
rise up from his sick bed
to continue his march to

The total population of Sydney, South
Africa in 2010.
Source: Blatantworld.com

possibly become a centenarian. But the will of
the Almighty God has
prevailed."
According to them,
though Oputa left the
stage at a ripe age of
96, “our eyes are still
drenched in tears for losing such an exceptional
jurist and statesman
"As a justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria,
Justice Oputa acquitted
himself creditably to
the admiration and applause of the legal profession. He left behind
landmark judgments
and judicial pronouncements that will forever
illuminate the nation’s

N5.63bn

The IGR realized from PAYE (taxes) of Imo
State in 2012.
Source: National Bureau of Statistics

judicial system," the governors declared.
In the quest to build
a nation where peace,
justice and equity reign,
they added, “Oputa contributed in no small
measure. He offered his
services, wisdom and legal insights to make our
fatherland better when
he presided over the famous Oputa Panel that
took far-reaching decisions to restore peace
after a turbulent political crisis that shook the
very foundations of Nigeria’s nationhood.”
They prayed God to
grant the late jurist eternal rest.

80,000

The number of adults and children estimated to be living with HIV in Malaysia in 2008.
Source: Blatantworld.com

of MOUAUA staff

Ikechukwu Ucheoma
Umuahia

A

bia State indigenes are
the most favoured in
the list of workers of
the Federal Governmentowned Micheal Okpara
University of Agriculture
Umudike ( MOUA ) located
in the state and are topping
the list of employees in the
institution.
New Telegraph gathered that the workers of
the institution, comprising
Academic, non- academic,
senior and Juniors cadres
were as at 31st July, 2013
drawn from 19 out of the
36 states.
According to the record, indigenes of Abia,
the university's host state,
constitute 81.61% of its
teaching staff, 51.76 % of
Senior non-teaching staff,
87.45% of Senior staff and
74.80 % of the junior ones.
The neighbouring Imo
State ranked second as
its citizens at the same
period constituted 58.44%
teaching, 21.05% Senior
non- teaching staff, 30.27%
senior staff and 15.60% junior cadre .
Enugu State ranked
third with 21.94% teaching

he first female Vicechancellor of a Nigerian university,
Professor Grace AleleWilliams, yesterday
canvassed an all-inclusive distribution of oil
wealth as a panacea to
the problems of oil theft
and pipeline vandalism
in the country.
Prof. Williams gave
the recipe in her speech
as the chairperson during the presentation of
two books on ‘Oil thefts
and Pipeline vandalization in Nigeria’ and ‘The
Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission
(EFCC) in Nigeria’, written by Professor Patrick
Igbinovia and his wife,
Blessing. The launch

was held in Benin, the
Edo state capital.
The former VC of
the University of Benin said such positive
step became imperative
to douse the worry by
millions of the citizens
about the state of the nation’s economy, particularly the unnecessary
over dependence on oil
for the country’s growth
and development.
She said there was an
urgent need to diversify
the economy and deal
with the current cancer
of oil theft and pipeline
vandalism threatening
the oil sector.
"Direct thefts of the
nation's oil from a myriad of sources and at
many levels in the production, transportation
and sale over the past

60 years has created annual increasing loss to
our country's wealth,"
the professor lamented.
According to her,
Nigeria can use her oil
wealth to lighten darkness in many communities using new technology that provides power
from gas being flared
and with the right type
of education, the nation can produce better
educated people who can
share in her riches.
The university don
pointed out that enabling laws have the
positive tendency of creating fair opportunities,
health, transportation
and improved agriculture which have the capacity to promote peace
and harmony among the
people and governments.

In his remarks, Professor Igbinovia, said the
books were unveiled to
underscore the severity
and magnitude of the
problems of oil theft and
vandalism of oil and gas
infrastructure for which
the President Goodluck
Jonathan said the sum
of $1billion was budgeted in 2014.
He noted that, “The
basic aims of the two
books was to evolve
serious thinking and
strategies to help solve
and check the problems
to help government stem
oil theft and to help
make the EFCC effective
in fighting economic and
financial malfeasances
in Nigeria and to make
the Nigerian commonwealth better for its citizens."

he Edo Committee on
Petroleum Monitoring
has promised hell for
those involved in product
adulteration, under-dispensing and high pump
price in the state.
Executive director of
the committee, Mr. Sunny Idahagbon told newsmen yesterday in Benin,
the state capital, that the
body was determined to
ensure that consumers get
the right value for their
money.
He noted that sharp
practices in petroleum
distribution has assumed
a worrisome level and
assured that steps would

be taken to deal with the
menace.
Idahagbon blamed lack
of special court to prosecute offenders as major
reason for continued
sharp practices.
He said, “But, in spite
of these shortcomings,
we as a responsible committee will fashion out
way of dealing with this
challenges. Whether there
is mobile court or not, the
fact remains that what is
right is right and what is
illegal is illegal.”
The committee boss
said, “We intend to work
with the stipulated penalty for these crimes; it
will only take time for us
before the result becomes
visible.”

Obanikoro extols Otedola’s virtues

M

inister of State for
Defence, Senator
Musiliu Obanikoro
has described the late Pa
Michael Otedola as a perfect gentleman and one of
the finest politicians the
state has ever produced.
While acknowledging
that his loss was painful,
he added that the octogenarian lived a fulfilled life.
The statement read in
part: “It is with deep sadness that I, on behalf of
myself and my family, convey our condolences to the
Otedola family over the
passing of its patriarch,
former Governor of Lagos
State, Sir Michael Otedola
on Monday May 5, 2014 at
the fruitful age of 87.
“While Pa Otedola has
left us at a very painful

moment, we must also
thank God for the life he
lived. I am honoured to
have worked under his
leadership, as Governor
of Lagos State when he
appointed me Director, Lagos State Bulk Purchasing
Corporation (LASBULK).
I knew him to be a perfect
gentleman, an icon of excellence and one of the finest politicians our nation
has ever produced.
“Sir Otedola was a real
human being. His modest lifestyle and love for
humanity was characterized by his philanthropic
efforts, which touched and
transformed the lives of
many Lagosians and Nigerians across the world.
Indeed, Nigeria has lost a
rare gem."

metr

NEW TELEGRAPH

www.newtelegraphonline.com/metro

ABIODUN BELLO
FEATURES Editor

abiodun. bello@newtelegraphonline.com

thursday, may 9, 2014

0802 393 8212

Sympathisers and FRSC officers removing the bodies of the victims.

Two die as
building T
collapses

INFERIOR MATERIALS
Ondo State Government says use of low
quality materials responsible for the collapse
of the building which claims two lives

Babatope Okeowo
Akure

wo persons were reportedly killed yesterday
while three others were critically injured when
an uncompleted two story-building collapsed in
Akure, the Ondo State capital.
The building, located on Akure - Ado-Ekiti Road,
according to the residents, is meant for a private secondary school.
The proprietor has a group of schools in Akure
and Ondo in Ondo West Local Government Area.
A witness, Mr Abiodun Sunday, told journalists
at the scene that the building collapsed about 7am
with a loud sound which attracted the neighbours.

I was lured into robbery, set up –Suspect
Juliana Francis

A

suspect, simply identified as Victor, is angry with his accomplice,
Ajao Musbau aka Alewedo, for
luring him into robbery and turning
around to assist police in catching
him.
Victor said he complained to his
friend, Musbau, that feeding his family was getting tough daily and that he
was tired of collecting handouts from
his friend.
According to a police source, he had
begged his friend to introduce him to
his line of business.
“But I didn’t tell him to introduce
me to robbery. He planned with the
police to catch me. In fact, it was only
twice I went to rob with him. It was
only one car we snatched.
“He went for a robbery and they arrested him. I didn’t go with him to the
operation where he was arrested,” he
said.
Victor was arrested after Musbau called and told him to meet him

Sanctity

somewhere; that there was an operation they would be going for. Victor
dashed to the rendezvous but while
he was discussing with Musbau, policemen appeared from nowhere and
arrested him.
Preliminary investigation shows
that Musbau is an Indian hemp seller
who heads a robbery gang in Lagos.
Musbau, who used to sell hemp at
Alakoko area, was used as bait by the
police to catch other members of the
gang.
Also in police custody, are Sunday
and Emmanuel Ajao.
The police also recovered four locally-made guns and 24 cartridges from
the gang.
Musbau was said to have been arrested while returning from a robbery
operation.
While being quizzed by the Special
Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) detectives,
Musbau named Victor.
According to Victor, Musbau told
him that he would assist him with a
job, if he knew how to drive very well.
He said: “Musbau told me that

somebody wanted a car, that there
was a place we should go and collect the car at Ikorodu. When he
said that, I told him that I have
two friends, who can also go with
us. I wanted to know how we would
collect the car, but Musbau said I
should not worry.”
On the fateful day they would go for
the operation, Musbau came with four
guns, while Victor came with the two
friends he had earlier promised to get.
“They left for Ikorodu that night
and succeeded in snatching a Camry
car. Victor said he later didn’t know
how Musbau disposed the car. But he
was given N80,000 for that operation,”
a police source said.
Victor kicked against the sharing
formula after he discovered that Musbau took the lion’s share. He wanted
Musbau to share the money equally,
but the friend said that it was not done
in any gang.
Two weeks later, Musbau called Victor for another operation.
The operation was at Ojota area of
Lagos State.

He said the neighbours invited security agents including fire service,
the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence
Corps (NSDC) and Federal Road Safety
Commission (FRSC).
According to him, two persons who
died were removed from the rubbles by
the security agents.
He added that one person was critically injured and taken to the hospital.
Sunday said the workers had already
resumed for work at the site when the
incident occurred.
According to him, those who died
wanted to escape when they heard the
sound of cracks but were trapped in the
process.
The Commissioner for Housing and
Urban Development, Dr Bade Omoloja,
told journalists at the scene that the
building was not approved and that two
different directives had been given to
stop its construction.
He said: “It is tragic that we just lost
two boys and three others are in critical
condition due to negligence and stubbornness of designers and engineers.”
Omoloja said that inferior materials
were used for the building.
Similarly, the Commissioner for
Works, Gboye Adegbenro (an engineer),
said the collapse was caused by structural failure.
Adegbenro added that government
would set up a committee to forestall
similar occurrence in future.
The South-West Zonal Coordinator,
National Emergency Management
Agency (NEMA), Mr Iyiola Akande,
advised the government to maintain
adequate supervision of building construction.
He stressed that it was not sufficient
for government officials to sit down
in office and approve without proper
monitoring by competent and structural engineers.
The state Police Public Relations
Officer (PPRO), ASP Wole Ogodo, described the incident as catastrophic and
disturbing.
Ogodo said the security personnel
were on ground to ensure successful
rescuing operation and to check the activities of hoodlums at the scene.

Ogunjobi leading
the exercise

Pas
don

Camillus Nna
Charles Onye

T

o reduc
the Fed
mission
a new a
The prog
sengers spea
drivers,” wa
the Lagos- Ib
Speaking
African Roa
(WARSO), U
Mowe Com
Commander
said the exec
held in Coton
April 24 to 26
that every M
regional Safe
mittee compr
West African
practice road
Ogunjobi
was to invo
in issues per

Amarachi: Poli

Taiwo Jimoh

T

he father of an eight-year-old girl,
who was reportedly kidnapped by a
policeman identified as Augustine
Gbuchenge, has accused police of not
doing enough to resolve the issue.
The 52-year-old Patrick Unyebuchukwu told our correspondent yesterday that since the incident about
two weeks ago, the police were yet to
invite him or apprehend the policeman.
Unyebuchukwu called on the Inspector General of Police Muhammed
Abubakar and the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Umar Manko, to
arrest Augustine for the safety of his
daughter, Amarachi.
The said he was surprised at the
way the police were handling his
daughter’s case.
He said: “My daughter told me on
her sick bed that the fleeing mobile
policeman used pressing iron on her
head, when she wanted to run out from
his apartment. She said immediately

the iron hit he
conscious.
“I am surp
police are han
ter, especially
State MOPOL
ron where the
policeman cla
was his beat
the command
of the Squad
denied ever kn
ing him.
“I was not
vited by anyb
since the inci
happened. My
and I were the
taking care
daughter with
sistance from
members.
“Although t
don’t know h
worked at Ket
and lately Aje
But while f

Confab: Nigeria needs restructuring to survive –Elliot/ PAGE 18

POLITICS

NEW TELEGRAPH

newtelegraphonline.com/politics

ayodele Ojo

Banire:
Implosion
possible in
Lagos APC if…

Deputy Editor, politics

ayodele.ojo@newtelegraphonline.com

ayodeleojo@yahoo.com

p-17

Friday, May 9, 2014

2015: 500 POLITICIANS TO WATCH

Ex-Customs officers, Army
Generals dominate Kebbi
The people of Zuru Emirate in Kebbi South
Senatorial District have neither produced a
governor nor deputy governor in the state.
This time around, the political elite, youth
organisations as well as their Emir,
General Sani Sami (rtd) have been
agitating, pleading and lobbying
other parts of the state for
power to shift to them.
However, it seems that
not everyone is listening to
their plea as aspirants from
Gwandu emirate are bent
on maintaining the status
quo. IBRAHEEM MUSA
reports

I

n 2007, General Mohammed
Magoro (rtd), now a senator,
wanted to run for the governorship of Kebbi State.
Wealthy, well connected and
very popular, Magoro cashed
in on Zuru people’s sentiment of marginalisation.
Since 1991, when Kebbi was
created, no person from
Zuru emirate has ever governed the state, whether
as a Military Administrator
or civilian governor. Comprising Dakarkari, Dukawa and Fakawa, including Kelawa, Gellawa and
Dankawa as well as Achifawa ethnic groups,
the area has never produced even a deputy governor for the state.
Alhaji Abubakar Musa, Garkuwan Yauri, was the first civilian
governor of the state but he ruled for only 22 months. Musa, a retired customs
officer, is from Yauri emirate while his deputy, Alhaji Sani Aliyu Augie hailed
from Argungu emirate. In 1999, Alhaji Mohammed Adamu Aliero, another
retired customs officer, assumed the mantle of leadership seven years later.
Aliero, who is from Gwandu emirate, governed for eight years and within
that period, he had three deputy governors, all of them from Argungu.
In quick succession, there was Alhaji Abdullahi Argungu, who was impeached, Alhaji Suleiman Argungu and Alhaji Bello Dantani Argungu.
Significantly, at one time or the other, Gwandu, Yauri and Argungu
emirates have produced either the governor or deputy governor of
Kebbi State in its 20 years of existence, leaving Zuru emirate in the lurch.
Similarly, the people of Zuru had other complaints, especially on the
uneven distribution of projects. The area, according to them, have not
enjoyed a fair share of democracy dividends and for that reason, most
people from the area felt alienated from government, disenchanted with

the system and frustrated with democracy. Well educated, had working and
highly productive, Zuru people embraced western education very early
and for this reason, their sons and daughters are found in every sphere of
human endeavour, spanning the civil service, the Organised Private Sector
as well as the informal sector. In particular, they dominate the military and
paramilitary services because just about every household in Zuru emirate boasts of either a serving or retired soldier or policeman, as well as a
customs or Immigration officer. In addition, the electorate have always
voted solidly for the ruling party at every democratic dispensation but
the governorship had always eluded them.
So, against this background, Magoro came like a knight in shiny
armour and Zuru people saw a messiah in him. However, in spite of
the home support, the retired general campaigned hard, reached out
to other emirates and built bridges of understanding across the state.
Notwithstanding, he never went beyond the primaries as Alhaji
Usman Nasamu Dakingari, the then All Nigeria People’s Party
(ANPP) candidate, crossed over to the Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP) and in the spirit of consensus, the man became PDP’s flag
bearer. The rest, as it is often said, is now history as Dakingari won
the election and subsequent re-run following the court verdict that
nullified his victory.
However, this time around, the people of Zuru are determined to produce the governor in 2015. The movement, in a manner of speaking, is becoming a do-or-die affair as youths from the area are fuming. On April 22, the Zuru
Youth Movement for Democracy, Abuja chapter, issued a bellicose press statement. In summary, Alhaji Dantani Dio Zuru, the movement’s President, said
that if his area does not produce the next governor, “the Federal Government
should carve it out of Kebbi State because the state is not meant for Gwandu
and Argungu emirates alone.”
To achieve this
power shift, an 18-man committee has been
up to screen, scrutinise and pick a consensus
set
candidate for Zuru emirate. The committee
is headed by Alhaji
Wakala Diri and
has gone round
the state to
persuade other emirates
to give Zuru
a chance. In
addition, the
committee is also
trying to put its
house together
and according to
reports, it has reconciled
the fractious Zulu elite who
have been
working at cross purposes for a
long time. So far, about 15 aspirants are being considered,
out of several others, to fly the Zuru flag of consensus
but gradually, the crowd is thinning out. However, as at
last April, the committee has not yet made its pick from
these men of timber and calibre.
Specifically, Senator Magoro and General Tanko Ayuba (rtd),
former Military Administrator of Kaduna State and an ex-Senator
as well as Alhaji Zubairu Turaki, a staff of the presidency, are the
top contenders among 15 aspirants that have shown interest. Others
include General Muhammadu Dan Hanne Isah (rtd), former Commandant of Infantry Corps, Jaji; Alhaji Bala Ibn Na’Allah, ex-federal
legislator and Mr. Isiyaku Daudu, a former commissioner, as well as
Alhaji Hussaini Adamu, and Alhaji Bala Ubadawaki, a state legislator
representing Fakai constituency.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 14

Understandably, even if PDP concedes to pressures and zones the governorship to Zuru, aspirants from other
emirates will still try their luck either
within the party or in the All Progressives Congress (APC). Presently, APC
is almost comatose in Kebbi State but
the governor’s decision whether or not
to anoint a Zuru candidate, will definitely swell its ranks. Specifically, if a
Zuru man emerges as PDP’s flag bearer, the other aspirants will flock to the
APC and vice versa. In both Gwandu,
Argungu and to a large extent Yauri
emirates, there is a long list of aspirants waiting to be anointed or ready
to take the bull by the horns elsewhere.
However, in spite of everything,
Governor Saidu Dakingari and other
aspirants from other zones or emirates
will ultimately decide who becomes
the next governor of Kebbi State.
Below are the prominent politicians
in the state, their strengths and weaknesses as well as those who hold the
aces that will produce the next helmsman of the “Land of Equity,” as Kebbi
State is known.
Saidu Dakingari: Holding the four aces
In this clime, incumbent governors
across all political divides, more than
the electorate, usually determine their
successors. In most cases, such anointed candidates coast to victory without
much ado. However, Bauchi and Kano
states prove to be exceptions to this
general rule. In 2007, as a relative underdog, Malam Isa Yuguda snatched
victory from Governor Ahmed Muázu’s candidate to become governor
of Bauchi State. Similarly, Dr. Rabiu
Musa Kwankwaso retrieved his mandate by defeating Governor Ibrahim
Shekarau’s candidate in Kano State.
Significantly, these cases are few and
far in-between and in Kebbi State, this
bravura act is a distant possibility.
Dakingari, in the last eight years,
has transformed Kebbi from rural
to a semi-urban state. Unlike Rivers,
Bayelsa or Cross River states, Kebbi
is not oil producing. Monthly, its average statutory allocation is around N2
billion, a paltry sum for an oil producing state. In Niger Delta, a local government gets as close to Kebbi state’s
monthly allocation from the federation account. Similarly, unlike Kano,
Lagos or Anambra states, the nation’s
industrial hubs, there is no industry in
Kebbi and commerce is at subsistence
level. Consequently, internally generated revenue is almost nil in the state.
So, with little or no internal revenue, the state relies on the federation
account to pay salaries, provide social
amenities and build infrastructure.
However, the Dakingari administration, within six years, has transformed
Kebbi in all facets. In particular, the
present government did not just add
value to others’ efforts but charted a
different course in several respects.
The governor’s prudence, knack for
due process and respect for Financial
Regulations as well as other civil service rules, have freed and conserved
resources to provide dividends of democracy. The governor, according to
reports, is looking for a successor that
will carry on from where he will leave,
by taking Kebbi to greater heights. As
the nation approaches 2015, he is the
dominant figure in the state.
Mohammed Adamu Aliero: The governor’s

Dakingari

Aliero

Turaki

Magoro

godfather
Dakingari’s predecessor, Senator
Aliero was governor of the state between 1999 and 2007. A retired customs
officer, he served his eight years as governor, won a senatorial seat and became Minister of the Federal Capital
Territory afterwards. Aliero, against
all odds, handpicked Dakingari to succeed him but along the way, they fell
out. In the end, Aliero was sacked as
minister following Dr. Goodluck Jonathan’s elevation to president. Significantly, this further widened the chasm
between Aliero and Dakingari. In frustration, the former had decamped to
the Congress for Progressive Change
(CPC) and supported Alhaji Abubakar Malam, his friend and former
colleague in the customs, to contest
against Dakingari in the 2011 election.
However, Aliero returned to PDP
after the election and the CPC lost its
steam as a result. The governor and
Aliero, according to reports, have

mended fences but the truce may not
hold out for long, especially in the race
for 2015 elections. Specifically, Aliero
wants to return to the Senate but
Dakingari, according to reports, has
another candidate for Kebbi Central.
Like Aliero, Dakingari wants to transit to the upper legislative chamber in
2015. Right now, Aliero’s supporters
are still in APC and the ex-governor, in
the event that PDP denies him ticket,
may return to his former party and
contest for Senate.
Although he will not run for governorship, Aliero will definitely determine where the gubernatorial pendulum swings in 2015, whether to Zuru
land or elsewhere.
Kabiru Tanimu Turaki: Perennial guber
aspirant
A two-time gubernatorial candidate, Alhaji Kabiru Turaki (SAN) is
still eyeing the governorship of Kebbi
State. In 2003, the present Minister of

Special Duties contested on the platform of the ANPP but Aliero defeated
him. Similarly, in 2007, he got a ‘presidential mandate’ from Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, the then president,
to contest but that seal of approval
was jettisoned. On February 6, 2007,
Aliero substituted him for Dakingari
and in anger, Turaki crossed over to
the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in pursuit of his ambition.
Yet again, he lost to Aliero’s protégé.
Similarly, he contested in 2011 and lost.
But in 2012, following the Supreme
Court verdict that voided Dakingari’s
election, Turaki defected back to PDP
along with Aliero and other CPC chieftains.
In June 2012, Dr. Bello Haliru Mohammed was sacked as Defence Minister and Kebbi politicians began
jostling for the post. Specifically, retired General Bitrus Ushe’s name was
mooted as replacement but PDP top
brass kicked against it. At that time,

POLITICS

Sanctity of Truth

Friday, May 9, 2014

15

2015: 500 POLITICIANS TO WATCH

Magoro, Bagudu, Argungu battle for control
fair-complexioned senator from Mahuta, headquarters of Fakai Local Government, in 2015

CCC

Mallam

the state was polarised by Ushe’s nomination as
Zuru emirate, from where he hails, supported him.
However, the PDP state leadership denounced his
choice, arguing that Ushe didn’t contribute to the
growth of the party. Bottom line: the retired general
cannot reap where he did not sow. Subsequently,
Ushe’s nomination was stymied and his loss became
Turaki’s gain as the latter became Minister of Special Duties.
Once again, Turaki is said to be oiling his gun
in order to take a shot at the governorship. In this
bid, the minister will leverage on his experience,
structure and exposure as a serial gubernatorial
candidate for the task ahead. In addition, being close
to Aso Rock will be an added advantage.
Mohammed Magoro: Opposition from home
Businessman, retired Army General and former
Minister of Internal Affairs, Senator Magoro represents Kebbi South at the upper legislative chamber.
Magoro took the best shot yet at the governorship
of Kebbi in 2007 but he fell short of clinching it.
The senator, according to reports, is still eyeing the
Government House at Birnin Kebbi but unlike 2007,
his chances are now much slimmer.
Specifically, the people are yearning for a paradigm shift from the old brigade to the new breed. Magoro and his ilk have bestrode Kebbi like Colossuses
in the last 20 years. However, they have added little
or no value to the people, Zuru land in particular

Ayuba

Bagudu

The people of Zuru had other
complaints, especially on the
uneven distribution of projects. The
area, according to them, have not
enjoyed a fair share of democracy
dividends and for that reason, most
people from the area felt alienated
from government, disenchanted
with the system and frustrated with
democracy
or Kebbi State in general. Alhaji Musa Garba, the
leader of Youth Vanguard for Good Governance has
declared that “In Kebbi State, we are looking for
both power shift and generational shift,” . Magoro
and others, according to him, have shares in bluechip companies, influence at both state and federal
levels but have not leveraged on these connections
to empower other people.
All politics, to a large extent, is local and this opposition from the home front may work against the

Abubakar Tanko Ayuba: Playing elitist politics
Like Magoro, General Abubakar Tanko Ayuba
(rtd) is part of the old guard that the people want to
break away from. Similarly, he has been Minister
of Communications, Kaduna State governor and
senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. An amiable gentleman, Ayuba is receptive to people but his
politics is elite-centred. Significantly, as Minister of
Communications, he employed a lot of Zuru people
in the defunct NITEL and present NIPOST, two parastatals under his ministry.
However, at a point, he had virtually relocated
to Lagos, running his businesses and coming home
occasionally. Specifically, he fell on hard times and it
was Alhaji Abba Aliero, a businessman and brother
to Governor Aliero, that pulled him away from the
brink, dragged him into politics and bankrolled his
election. By so doing, Ayuba became a senator and
from 2007 to 2011, he was at the upper legislative
chamber.
However, in spite of this, Ayuba does not have the
populist attitude and the common touch of a politician. Largely, he is surrounded by friends and well
wishers but makes no attempt to widen his political
circle. Essentially, the gentleman from Dirin Daji
has the exposure, experience and education to lead
Kebbi State but he is incapable of winning even the
PDP primaries. He is going to play a role in the 2015
elections.
Mohammed Dan Hanne Isa: Son of another soil
For General Mohammed Isa (rtd), the initial support following his ouster is fast fizzling out. The excommandant of Nigerian Infantry Corps Centre,
Jaji was the helmsman when the military cantonment was bombed in November 2012. The general,
was summarily retired and many northerners cried
foul at his removal. An army chief material, politics
worked against him and General Azubuike Ihejirka,
the former Chief of Army Staff, was widely seen as
his nemesis. The Jaji bombing allegedly provided
the alibi for Isa’s retirement.
Back home, the Zuru born Infantry officer joined
the ranks of retired generals of his hometown. Suddenly, his posters appeared in a few places, proclaiming a gubernatorial ambition. In addition, Isa started
appearing at public functions, echoing the sound
bites of unity, the marginalisation of Zuru people
and the need to forge ahead. Specifically, he chaired
the 2013 Uhola festival organising committee. Particularly, Uhola festival is dear to Zuru people as it
is an occasion to showcase their culture, farming
prowess and marksmanship, as well as bravery.
With time, politicians, youth groups and various
organisations in Zuru land started thinning out, realising that Isa didn’t have as much money to throw
around as they thought. However, Governor Dakingari is allegedly backing him but some Zuru elite
are not favourably disposed to Isa’s bid.
Born in Zuru, retired General Isa’s paternal parentage is from Katsina State but his mother is an
aborigine. So, to most elite, Isa is a ‘settler’ but this
sentiment is not shared by the masses to whom the
retired officer is a hero.
Bala Ibn Na’Allah: The proverbial prophet
A lawyer, ex-legislator and retired officer with the
National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA),
Hon. Na’Allah is now a professional pilot. As a legislator, the former House of Representatives member
served on the Judiciary Committee between 2007 and
2011. In that capacity, Na’Allah gave useful insights
to law-making, including interpreting the intendment of the Constitution as well as untying knotty
House rules.
However, Na’Allah is like the proverbial prophet
who is more celebrated abroad. At home, his people
see him as wily, sleek and somewhat tight-fisted. For
this reason, the youths and ‘professional politicians’
see him as arrogant. Since leaving the House of
Representatives, the lawyer turned politician is still
popular in Zuru emirate and Kebbi State as a whole.
However, he is rarely seen because he is mostly airborne, criss-crossing the country, looking over his
investments and piloting well heeled clients to variCONTINUED ON PAGE 16

Ideally, having won two elections on
its ticket, Bagudu could have contested
on the PDP platform. However, with
Dakingari’s ambivalence and the Zuru
agitation for power shift, he is rethinking the platform on which to run for
the governorship. Consequently, Bagudu has devised a Plan B and the senator, according to reports, may defect to
the APC and contest on its platform.
Already, his allies have crossed over
but Bagudu is still watching events
closely. However, many dissatisfied
aspirants, following PDP primaries,
will troop to APC in order to actualise
their gubernatorial aspirations. So,
the ticket will not be there just for Bagudu’s taking. In this regard, he won’t
get it without a fight.

ous destinations.
As yet, Na’Allah has not indicated
interest in the governorship race but
he is mulling over it. Whether or not he
decides to run for the position, he will
play a big role in who becomes governor, and whether or not the candidate
is from Zuru.
Bello Haliru Mohammed: Man of all
seasons
For over three decades, Dr. Bello
Haliru Mohammed has been in public service, beginning from 1977 when
he was Commissioner of Education is
old Sokoto State, comprising present
day Zamfara, Sokoto and Kebbi states.
In 1979, instead of pitching tent with
the National Party of Nigeria (NPN),
the dominant party in his state, Mohammed went to GNPP and became
its secretary. Later, the vetinary doctor contested for the deputy governorship. Subsequently, Bello transferred
his services to Rima Basin and Rural
Development Authority as General
Manager. In 1988, he transferred his
services to the Nigerian Customs, from
where he rose to the rank of Comptroller General seven years later.
In 1999, when the present dispensation began, Bello started as Commissioner, Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission. From
then, Bello left one plum job for the
other, from being Minister of Communications, to the National Vice
chairman (North-West) of PDP, deputy
chairman of the party and Minister
of Defence. In June 2012, Bello was removed as minister, following the spate
of bombings that rocked the North.
Since then, he has kept a low profile.
However, Bello is still powerful
at Wadata Plaza, the PDP national
headquarters. Having been minister,
party chairman and customs boss, it
is natural for him to have a stake in
Kebbi ahead the 2015 elections. The
Kebbi prince is still keeping things to
his chest.
Ishaya Rizi Bamaiyi: The kingmaker of
Zuru land
After his botched attempt to railroad his son to the House of Representatives in 2011, General Bamaiyi
(rtd) seems to have retired from politics. Businessman, former Army Chief
and community leader, Bamaiyi is interested in power shift. Specifically,
he wants a Zuru man, irrespective of
religion, to become the next governor
of Kebbi State.
In the 1990s, at the peak of his power, Bamaiyi was allegedly promoting
Christian elements within Zuru, to
the detriment of Muslims and this
pitched him against the latter. At a
time, Bamaiyi and the Emir of Zuru,
General Sani Sami were allegedly at
loggerheads. However, after years of
incarceration and his subsequent release, Bamaiyi has mended fences with
his kinsmen. Right now, the retired
general has pledged resources and his
various contacts to what he called “the
Zuru cause.”
Zubairu Turaki: A breath of fresh air
The new kid on the block, Alhaji
Turaki is like a breath of fresh air
on the political scene of Kebbi state.
Young, amiable and with deep pockets, the fair skinned blue blood is popular across age, religious and gender
lines. Barely 50 years of age, Zubairu
is seen as a break away from the past,
where retired generals held sway in
Zuru politics. In addition, profession-

Bande

Turaki

Bello

Argungu

al politicians, Hausa community and
settlers see him as an accommodating
liberal. Similarly, apart from Zuru
land, Zubairu is also popular in other
emirates, especially Gwandu, Yauri
and Argungu, where his popularity
has even preceded him. In these emirates, most people seem to like him even
when they haven’t seen him.
Presently, Zubairu is an Assistant
Director with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) office, an appendage of the Presidency. Specifically, the
Conditional Cash Transfer, a poverty
alleviation safety net, is under his
portfolio and he has travelled widely to
perfect it. Armed with empirical data
and a work plan, Zubairu has set up a
think tank to draw up a practical, people-oriented and easy to fund poverty
alleviation programme for Kebbi State.
This proposal, according to reports,
has been selling his widely touted
candidacy within the elite. In addition, Zubairu is allegedly leveraging
on his connections in the presidency.
In particular, he has Bamaiyi’s support
and according to reports, the retired
general is ready to finance his campaign. Also, he is widely believed to be
the consensus candidate of the Wakala
committee. However, after all said and
done, Zubairu needs Dakingari’s endorsement to scale the PDP primaries
and clinch the governorship.

ing a disagreement with Abba Aliero,
the governor’s younger brother. Undaunted, Malam soldiered on and contested on the Democratic Peoples Party
(DPP) platform. When Dakingari and
Aleiro fell apart, the latter reached
out to Malam to challenge the governor’s second term bid. Together, they
teamed up in the CPC and Malam was
the gubernatorial candidate. Yet again,
Aliero ditched him in the CPC when
he defected to the PDP after the 2011
gubernatorial election. Gari Malam, as
he is popularly called, is now a spent
force but he will feature prominently
in the 2015 permutations ahead. Like
Aliero, he is also from Gwandu emirate.

Abubakar Malam: Twice bitten
In 2007, Alhaji Malam, an ex-customs officer, was Aliero’s heir apparent but a few months to the election,
he ditched him for Dakingari, follow-

Abubakar Atiku Bagudu: Eyeing the APC
ticket
From Gwandu emirate, Senator
Bagudu is unperturbed by the agitation for power shift as the reticent
politician is eyeing the governorship
of Kebbi State in spite of this political arrangement. In 2008, following
Aliero’s appointment as minister, the
fair skinned, soft spoken and suave international businessman won the byelection on PDP’s platform. In 2011, he
defeated Aliero and returned to the 7th
Senate. Bagudu, as senator, chairs the
powerful Committee on Interior but he
is not very visible in the media. However, the senator enjoys the respect of
his colleagues but his constituents see
him as arrogant. Naturally, his supporters disagree with this view, arguing that Bagudu is accessible, caring
and supportive of the masses.

Sarkin Yaki Bello: A soldier’s soldier
Like retired General Isa, Major General Bello’s retirement was seen within
the context of military politics. Bello
and Isa, according to reports, were
pencilled down to take over from Ihejirka as Chef of Army Staff but they
had to be sacrificed for Major General
Kenneth Minimah, Jonathan’s South
South kinsman. As Joint Task Force
Commander, Bello fought Niger Delta
militants to a standstill. Thereafter, he
was made General Officer Commanding (GOC) 82nd Division. Unceremoniously, Bello was retired but was made
Jonathan’s Special Adviser on Counter
Terrorism, a tacit reward for his JTF
operations.
Burly, brusque and forthright, Bello is seen as a soldier’s soldier but in
recent times, his name has featured
prominently as one of Dakingari’s successors. From Gwandu emirate, Bello
hails from Birnin Kebbi town and he
is from a family of warriors. Bello, according to reports, is the governor’s
main link to national politics in Abuja
and in that regard, the retired general
has allegedly shielded him from the
anti-graft agencies. Largely, it is generally believed that as a quid pro quo,
Dakingari will support Bello to succeed him. However, Gwandu emirate
has produced Aliero and Dakingari.
So, Bello’s candidacy may be stoutly
resisted, especially from Argungu and
Zuru emirates.
Tijani Muhammad Bande: The joker in the
pack
Lecturer, author and administrator,
Prof. Bande is the Director-General
of the National Institute for Policy
and Strategic Studies (NIPS), Kuru,
Jos. Before then, he had lectured at
Usman Danfodio University, Sokoto,
held various academic and administrative positions, before becoming the
Vice Chancellor. Thereafter, Bande
went to Morocco, as Director General
of the Centre African de Formation
et de Research Administrative Pour le
Department. Afterwards, he relocated
to NIPSs.
Bande’s rich experience notwithstanding, the Director-General is
highly regarded as honest, incorruptible and dedicated to his duties. Specifically, these qualities more than
anything, endeared him to Governor
Dakingari. The governor, after toiling
to build infrastructure, a huge cash reserve and a professional civil service,
wants to bequeath the state to clean
hands. Incidentally, Bande fits that bill
and that explains why he is seen as the
joker in the governor’s pack.
As yet, Bande’s candidacy is widely
speculated but not a single poster of
CONTINUED ON PAGE 17

POLITICS 17

Sanctity of Truth

Friday, May 9, 2014

Dr. Muiz Banire served
as Commissioner for
Environment for 12 years in
Lagos State and is presently
the interim National Legal
Adviser of the All Progressives
Congress (APC). In this chat
with WALE ELEGBEDE,
he speaks on the recently
concluded congresses of his
party and the zoning of Lagos
governorship ticket, among
other salient issues. Excerpts:

Banire: Implosion
possible in Lagos APC if…
I have always begged
them and appealed to the
leadership of the party at
all levels that we need to
manage our success, if we
do not, there could be an
implosion

The recently concluded congresses of
your party, the APC, had hitches in some
states. How would the party resolve those
contradictions as your national congress
approaches?
For those states where there are
hiccups, the appeal committees are
there already and the harmonisation committee would take over
from them. There is really no cause
for alarm. It is not an unexpected
situation. In all parties, you expect
factions. That is why I said the harmonisation committee will be able
to reconcile them, apportion and
appropriate some of the offices. It’s
possible we lose some people in the
process, it is just normal.

row and say we are zoning it to Mushin,
nobody can query me because that is
my own view. Also, the issue of religion
does not come.
Are we going to have primaries for Lagos
governorship in APC?
Certainly, there will be primaries
because the constitution mandates it.
So, all the parameters being canvassed
like zoning, age-limits, religion will be
considered by people in determining
who wants to represent them at the primaries. This is not a military regime.
At the primaries, those factors may
likely count.
Is the APC aligning with Governor Murtala
Nyako of Adamawa State on his genocide
allegation against the North by the Federal Government and what is the way out
from these insecurity challenges?
That is not the position of the APC.
It is simply imperfection of issues. The
governor is entitled to his own opinion
and it is a matter of opinion. On the
security challenge in the country, the
APC is not in charge of government
at the federal level; we can only follow
events and keep on praying.

What is your reaction to insinuations that
some members of the interim executive
of the APC are lobbying to be returned as
substantive members of the executive
during the congress?
I am not aware of that. I am part of
the interim team and I have not been
jostling for anything.
You were recently quoted to have said
recently that you are not interested in
Lagos governorship. But a section in
the Mandate Group is pushing for your
candidature?
I have never been interested. It is one
thing for people to put you forward but
it is another thing for you to have interest in what they are asking you to do.
Like I said, Lagos governorship is not
an attraction for someone like me.
Is it because the zoning arrangement of
your party does not favour you that necessitated your backing out from the race?
There is no provision for zoning in
the Constitution of APC.
But your party said it has zoned the governorship ticket to Lagos East?
Which party? Has the national body
said anything like that? I am not aware

Banire

of anything like that from the national
body of the party.
With the controversy trailing the zoning
of Lagos governorship, do you foresee an
implosion in the APC?
I have always begged them and appealed to the leadership of the party at
all levels that we need to manage our
success, if we do not, there could be an
implosion.
Don’t you think your supporters might
be jolted with your decision not to run in
2015?
Yes, it is possible. I have always told
them that what I believe is that there

are several people who can carry out
several responsibility that we haven’t
considered, provided however that
they are politicians. I have always advocated and supported professionals
who are in the political arena.
Do you think the zoning of Lagos governorship emanates from the stable of
Asiwaju Bola Tinubu?
To be candid, I have told you that
there is nothing like that in the APC
as far as I am concerned. I am a lawyer and my last discussion with him
(Tinubu) is that let the party’s constitution prevail. People are entitled to
their opinion. I might wake up tomor-

There were insinuations that the APC
may field a Muslim-Muslim ticket in 2015
presidential election?
This is news to me. I am not in the
picture of such plan. I am one of the advocates of merit in all position regardless of ethnicity, religion or gender.
Even in civil service position, put the
best in the right position. The APC is
a new party and there are more people
that are more focused in the party now.
Most likely, we will see people making
efforts towards complying with the
provision of the constitution of the
party because there are constitutional
provisions for all these things. I don’t
expect any manoeuvring in the choice
of candidates.

the professor can be seen in the state.
In addition, he has not consulted any
individual, interest group or political
party for support. Similarly, he doesn’t
have the resources to fund a campaign.
However, this is part of Dakingari’s
game plan. Tacitly, the governor gave
his nod to various aspirants and they
are already campaigning. With time,
some will burn themselves out while
others will simply fizzle out. Along the
line, the remaining few will be too far
gone for any to step down for the other.
Dakingari, according to reports, will
spring up Bande as his anointed candidate and thereafter, he will mobilise
state machinery behind the professor.
However, Bande is still sitting pretty at
NIPSs, unmoved by this speculation.

Suleiman Argungu: One of the pillars of APC
When Governor Aliero defected
to PDP, Alhaji Argungu, his deputy
stayed put in ANPP. Surprisingly, Argungu resigned instead of engaging
in endless power struggles. Defending
his action, Argungu had argued that
defection “does not help democracy
and does not help you as a person.”
Through thick and thin, he remained
in the ANPP, refusing to go to the ruling PDP or bow to the CPC wind of
change. Rather, he built ANPP, refocused the party and tried to sell it to
the electorate.
However, with the merger of ANPP,
CPC and ACN, Argungu is now in the
APC. In Kebbi State, he is one of the
pillars of the party. Right now, there
are speculations that he may contest
for the governorship, as he did previously. Significantly, Argungu is seen as

principled by some people while others
see him as cantankerous. In 2015, the
electorate will decide that, assuming
he clinches the APC nomination.
All said and done, the choice of who
becomes what in Kebbi come 2015,
from his successor, to the councillor
at the ward level, including council
chairmen as well as state and federal
legislators, rests largely on Governor
Dakingari. In Kebbi State, the governor’s penchant for surprises is legendary and no one can guess what is up
his sleeve. Dakingari may either succumb to the Zuru demand for power
shift or surprise everyone by acceding to the unexpected. Whichever way
he decides, the losers will troop to the
APC and slug it out with his chosen
candidate. But in a state like Kebbi,
government’s influence is far-reaching
and its will often prevails.

Bamaiyi

18 POLITICS
Elliot Uko is the assistant
secretary of Igbo Leaders of
Thought and convener of Igbo
Youth Movement. He speaks
on the ongoing National
Conference, the marginalisation
of Ndigbo, among other issues,
ETAGHENE EDIRIN reports
How do you appraise the national conference so far?
It is too early to make comments on
it, but what has become very clear, is
the distinction between Nigerians who
understand the issues and those who
don’t. A vast majority of commentators regrettably do not understand the
real issues. Patriotic and deep thinking compatriots who agitated for a national conference of ethnic nationalities, whose decisions will be affirmed
through a referendum in order to produce a new constitution, had only one
thing in mind: A new, better, united and
equitable Nigeria.
They wanted a fair, progressive Nigeria to emerge. They wanted to put
behind all the vices and evils that
have held us down as a nation. They
know that a restructured Nigeria will
emerge as one of the leading nations
on this planet. They know that equity
and a new structure will transform our
beloved country to a new level. They
are passionate about the survival and
greatness of Nigeria.
Some of them like Chief Rotimi
Williams and many others have since
passed on. These great Nigerians even
prepared a draft bill for an enabling
law to legalise the entire process. They
genuinely worried about the future of
Nigeria, and were inspired by the great
successes of other nations which were
at the same level of political and economic growth with Nigeria by 1960.
They saw clearly what damage a faulty
structure, wrong political culture and
sleaze has done to Nigeria. They came
to the conclusion that only a National
Conference could save Nigeria. They
also recognised the place of ethnicity
in Nigerian politics and saw that a conference of ethnic nationalities that will
renegotiate our terms of association is
both apt and ripe at this time.
These great men are few and deeply
passionate about the very survival of
Nigeria. Vast majority of Nigerians do
not really understand the issues, that
might be offensive, but that is the truth.
Are you saying that the ongoing confab
is different from what the agitators of a
conference wanted?
I am saying that the agenda was to
achieve a new united, better equitable
and progressive Nigeria by restructuring the polity in order to allow for positive growth and development. If this
conference achieves that, that will be
wonderful, if it doesn’t, our situation
will be worse, because despondency
and disappointment will set in. It will
be clear that our inability to redirect
and reconstruct our nation could mean
that we lack the ability to live together
in peace and unity.
Already, many countries are worried at our plight. In Ghana, they do
not kill each other; in Cameroun, there
has not been a single incident of herdsmen slaughtering innocent villagers in
their sleep; in Benin Republic, Togo,
Cote D’Ivore etc, you do not hear about
bombing of markets and places of worship. All over the world, people are asking, what is wrong with Nigeria?
Well, what I think is wrong with us,
is our refusal to face the truth. We stubbornly refuse to realise that only the
truth can lift up Nigeria. The 774 local
government areas and 36 states structure, will never move Nigeria forward.
This faulty, inequitable structure

Sanctity of Truth

Friday, May 9, 2014

Confab: Nigeria needs
restructuring to survive –Elliot
breeds corruption. Regrettably, we hear
that some people are determined to defend it, not because Nigeria is working,
but because they want to defend advantages they have over other sections of
the country. If these military creations
are not overhauled, Nigeria will never
know peace.
My section of the country feel
caged and imprisoned. Over 50 million Ndigbo are locked up in five out
of 36 states. We are imprisoned in 95
out of 774 LGAs. By our population, we
represent close to 30 per cent of Nigeria’s 170 million. My people want to see
those prison walls fall down. We want
to turn our corner of the world into
Shanghai and Hong Kong, we want to
explode and turn this place into Dubai.
We can’t because, we are shackled and
manacled by this unjust structure.
Our young people are bitter about this
wicked militarily imposed structure.
Some of them have been waiving Biafran flags for over a decade now. Arrests
and detention have not been able to deter
them. Now some of them have graduated
to hanging Biafran flags in Government
Houses at midnight. My people are angry
with the structure of Nigeria everyday.
We want the prison walls to fall down. We
want regional autonomy, where a more
responsive and responsible leadership
will transform our land, like Michael
Okpara did 50 years ago.
We want petrochemicals and iron
and steel industries that will drive our
envisaged industrial renaissance. We
know that job creation will reduce unemployment, which in turn will eradicate crimes like armed robbery and
kidnapping. We know that insecurity
will go away and investors will come
in, then our land will enjoy economic
growth and stability and progress. We
know that will never happen under the
present unjust structure.
The people who want the present
structure to be sustained are those who
are benefiting from this unworkable
structure at the expense of the good of
all. This conference will be adjudged
by history as a failure if nothing significant changes in the structure of
Nigeria. And if the political structure
is not significantly changed, then all
our problems will not only persist but
grow worse. This beautiful country
has great potential, but the military
imposed political structure not only
retards growth and progress but also
encourages sleaze, ethnic and religious
frictions.
Are you saying that restructuring is the
most important task facing Nigeria today?
Yes, once you get the structure right,
every other thing will fall in place.
State governors and council chairmen engage in anticipatory expenditure because they know they will collect monthly federal allocations. They

My section of the
country feel caged and
imprisoned. Over 50
million Ndigbo are locked
up in five out of 36 states.
We are imprisoned in 95
out of 774 LGAs. By our
population, we represent
close to 30 per cent of
Nigeria’s 170 million

Uko

are accountable to no one. Corruption
rules the land because the masses are
impoverished and therefore voiceless
and powerless. Political culture is violent and electoral process undermined
and subverted because politicians are
desperate. Politicians are desperate because the stake is high, the gains are
enormous; the winner takes all.
Everybody suffers because the system is fundamentally wrong. Those
who stand on the truth and demand
the best for the country are vilified because the vocal majority are only interested in window dressing, and the
beat goes on. Nigerian political culture
is very different from that of say, Ghana. Here the powerful politician gets
away with corruption not because the
people do not know, but simply because
he has the power to buy up and settle
everybody and also has the power to
deal with anybody who refuses to be
bought over. So, it’s a terrible political culture. The nation simply cannot
survive this way.
You are the Deputy Secretary of the Igbo
Leaders of Thought. Your leader, Prof.
Ben Nwabueze seems not to have faith in
the ongoing conference.
That is not true. Nwabueze is so passionate about the survival of Nigeria,
that he dedicated decades of his life
fighting for a national conference that
will peacefully and successfully restructure Nigeria into the great country she
ought to be. Prof. Nwabueze is greatly
pained that certain forces are working
day and night to pervert the conference,
to turn it into an avenue that would only
dress the wound, ameliorate the discomfort without addressing the real virus
responsible for the disease.
He is pained that if the conference
does not resolve the fundamental issues, it would only turn out like other
conferences while the decay and dis-

eases continue to fester. Those who
misunderstand him should be forgiven. I forgive them because most
of them heard there’ll be a national
conference, they lobbied hard and
used their connections in government
to emerge as delegates. They truly do
not know how and why the agitation
for a national conference began. They
only want to be seen as delegates and
important people. They do not know
that the people who fought for this
conference are afraid, that the aims
may not be realised. They do not understand that Nwabueze means well
for the country, that he is only afraid
that politicians would pervert this
conference.
That may leave Nigeria still agitating for a real National Conference in
the future. I read the Aka Ikenga fellow
dismissing Nwabueze and for me it was
painfulIt was a fresh rehash of the Igbo
disease where people abuse our elders
in their misguided believe that abusing our respected elders would launch
them into relevance.
As a kid, I saw them attacked Zik,
some called his complaints “the ranting of an ant”. I was very close to
Ojukwu, every week we sit together in
his study listening to tales where Igbo
elite did nothing but abuse Ojukwu. He
would laugh it off.
It’s an Igbo disease, where people believe that abusing our icons will push
them up the ladder.
What is your own take?
My position is simple; if after this
conference, the problems holding us
down still continue, then the conference
failed to achieve its objective and the agitation for genuine National Conference
of ethnic nationalities, whose outcome
will be ratified by a people’s referendum
that will throw up a new constitution
will continue and grow louder.

19

EDITORIAL

Sanctity of Truth

Friday, May 9, 2014

Our VISION
To build a newspaper organisation
anchored on the sanctity of truth.

Three things cannot be
long hidden: the sun, the
moon and the truth
– Buddha

FRIday, MAY 9, 2014

The proposed Sultanate female university

T

he Sultan of Sokoto,
Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar,
has revealed that an all
female university is in
the works. To be established by the Sultanate Council in
Sokoto State, the institution would
train Islamic women in medicine
and other disciplines. He said the
Sultanate would continue to initiate
programmes aimed at supporting
women to achieve their objectives,
adding that: “Educating a woman is
just like educating the nation. Very
soon, a blue print of the proposed
university would be made public.”
He further pledged the Sultanate’s
determination to encourage young
girls to acquire western and religious education.
It is germane to point out that in
the past, some forms of education
have not necessarily been a priority
for the girl-child because of cultural
beliefs, poverty and misinterpretations of religious doctrines. It is
believed that the place of the girl
child is primarily in her husband’s
house. As a matter of fact, some
cultures allow under-aged marriage
of girls. One reason for some parts
of the North having a higher rate of
Vesico Vaginal Fistula (VVF). Until
now, it has been challenging to successfully implement programmes
that will enhance education of girls
and women in the Northern region
-particularly in rural communities.
However, things are changing. The
Child Rights Act has been passed

into law in some states but a lot
more still needs to be done, as effective implementation remains a
challenge.
It is also instructive to note that
130 million children worldwide have
no access to primary education, of
which 81 million are girls. More
than 75 per cent of the 3.4 million
children out of school are girls in
2009; around 35 million girls were
still out of school compared to 31
million boys. In Nigeria 4.5 million
girls were out of school as against
boys of 4 million as at 2011 most
which are in the northern part
of the country. The 10 states with
the highest number of girls not in
secondary school are found in the
North West, North East and North
Central Geo-political zones of Nigeria. The five states from the North
West are Kebbi, Sokoto, Jigawa,
Zamfara, and Katsina while those
from the North East are Bauchi,
Yobe, Borno, and Gombe. Niger
state is the only north central state
in the category, according to report
published by Africa Health, Human
and Social Development Information Service (Afri-Dev Info). Despite
the Federal Government’s Universal
Basic Education launched with
fanfare some years ago, the number
of girls attending schools in some
northern states of the country remains abysmally low. This has been
attributed to age-long religious and
cultural beliefs.
Education has been recognized

as the most important factor used
by man to conquer his environment and it has charted his destiny.
Although there are schools established in these communities, there
are not enthusiastically patronized
due to age-long cultural barriers.
Stories were told of how some of
the schools had to be shut down for
some time due to lack of patronage
while others remain dilapidated and
unkempt. While the male child has a
choice to attend, his female counterpart is strictly discouraged from
pursuing even the basic elementary
western education. Her ambitions
are tied to the apron strings of
culture and religion. This probably explains the rot and complete
backwardness of these communities
because mankind’s immense progress, which is evident in many landmarks, is attributed to education. It
is incontrovertible to suggest that
when these communities shunned
education, progress appears to have
deserted them for now. Other closely
intertwined factors responsible
for poor school enrolment for the
girl child include poverty, lack of
opportunities for women, a lack of
conveniences at the primary schools
and poorly functioning educational
system.
Without losing sight of the fact
that it is the duty of government to
provide education for all Nigerians,
however, it is also important to note
that government should not be left
to do it alone. This involves capacity

building for establishing and supporting such novel and all-inclusive
strategies such as School Management Committees (SMCs) including Parents Teachers Associations
(PTAs). As well as methods to build
the capacity of government, civil
society organizations and community leaders. An enabling environment should be encouraged to allow
them fulfill and extend their roles.
Strategies should be in place to
track education budgets, provide
links between the schools and the
wider community, and engage with
local and state governments as well
as private sector and donor agencies. Other significant interventions
include relentless public enlightenment campaigns, free and compulsory education, scholarship, bursary
awards, automatic employment, and
overseas advance educational trainings amongst others.
We therefore commend the efforts
of the Sultanate which in its wisdom, deems it necessary and appropriate to set up a female university,
the very first of its kind in the country. This pioneering effort will help
in no small measure to ginger more
girls in the north to get educated; it
will also help to reduce poverty of
ideas as the society will no longer be
vulnerable to innuendoes, insinuations and mendacities. The step
taken by the Sultanate therefore is a
right step in the right direction and
must be lauded and supported by all
well-meaning Nigerians.
GABRIEL AKINADEWO
Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief
IKE ABONYI
Deputy Managing Director/DEIC
FELIX OGUEJIOFOR ABUGU
Managing Editor, South
SULEIMAN BISALLA
Managing Editor, North
YEMI AJAYI
Editor, Daily
LAURENCE ANI
Editor, Saturday
EMEKA MADUNAGU
Editor, Sunday
LEO CENDROWICZ
Bureau Chief, Brussels
MARSHALL COMINS
Bureau Chief, Washington DC
SAM AMSTERDAM
Editorial Coordinator, Europe
EMMAN SHEHU (PhD)
Chairman, Editorial Board
GEOFFREY EKENNA
News Editor
PADE OLAPOJU
Production Editor
TIMOTHY AKINLEYE
Head, Graphics
ROBINSON EZEH
Head, Admin.

20

Sanctity of Truth

OPINION
Doubts dabble in Dimka’s demise
I

n the next couple of days, official records will mark
38 years of the execution ,by firing squad of Lt.Col
Bukar Suka Dimka. The death was as a result of
the February 13, 1976 mutiny that consumed Gen.
Murtala Mohammed.
However, i want to be convinced that Dimka was really shot the day he was reported to have died.My doubts
stem from the fact that Dimka’s execution was the second batch of the journey to the great beyond.The first
round involved such high profile names as Gen. Iliya
Bisalla,Defence Commissioner,Col. Abdul Wya, commander Artillery Corps,Lt.Cols Ayuba Tense,Ahmadu
Aliyu,A.B. Umoru and T.K. Adamu.That was on March
11, 1976 at the Lagos Bar Beach.
The Dimka group faced the bullets on Saturday
May 15,1976. Seven of them,Compol Joseph Dechi
Gomwalk,first governor of Benue Plateau state,Lt.Col
Isa Bukar,Maj. Kola Afolabi,Lt. Sabo Kwale,Warrant
Officer Two E. Bawa and Mr. Isaac Shayen of the Police.
It was a Saturday,yet it was not a free show for
Lagosians,unlike the first batch that was free for all
at the beach. The second batch faced death in Kirikiri,
and only journalists were allowed in.Not even the grass
was given a face-lift.
Dimka was all smiles as he was tied to the stake.”My
only regrets, i have no will’” were his last words.At
the end, his head was bowed. Curiously,there were no
bloodstains on him.Quite unlike the rest.Photographs
of the execution have not convinced me yet.
To add to my confusion, twenty five years later, the
Nigerian Tribune of February 11,2001 wrote “several

weeks after execution,their bodies were removed from
Atan cemetry in two trucks at night.”
I do know that such bodies are not always handed
over to family and friends.Gen. Mamman Vatsa’s children are still asking for his remains.Often, such bodies
are given mass burial in unmarked graves.
It sounds helpful that the first batch of executions
did not take place until Dimka was arrested.After the
coup, he had escaped, through the help of one of the
soldiers, who should have arrested him.While a massive search was on in Radio Nigeria Ikoyi,the soldier
spoke in Hausa, ‘maza maza’ [fast,fast]. The coupist
escaped into Ikoyi cemetry from where he disappeared
to the unknown.
T he manhunt began.’This man is still wanted.Phone
Lagos 23711,5687852797’. Police authorities were fully
at work.It got so bad that Dimka’s father even asked
government to deal with his son.
March 4,one Mr.C. Godwin checked into Friendship
Hotel Afikpo.He drove in his Renault car with registration number ECC 6253. Godwin said he worked with
the Federal ministry of Agriculture Enugu.He asked
for female company and got one in Beatrice Agboti.
Mr. Godwin turned out to be Bukar Suka David Musa
Dimka.
Information filtered in,security operatives went
after him. Smart soldier,after all,he was head of the
Army’s Physical Education Corps. Dimka escaped
through the bathroom window, leaving the lady to receive the beating of her life.
His plan to escape through the border to Cameroun was foiled by an eagle eyed bus driver Mathew
Nga,although police credited their man Jika Iyah with
the deed.Taken to One infantry Brigade headquarters
Enugu, and presented to the public by Lt. Col Danjuma Dyeris and state police commissioner Kafaru
Tinubu,Dimka was flown to Lagos.
Then things began to happen.Police officer James

Friday, May 9, 2014

Danbaba, condemned to death, was set free.His offence?
For being Dimka’s friend. Bisalla was shot, and he
blamed Dimka. “ I would have been set free yesterday,
but for this boy Dimka who implicated me. God knows
i knew nothuing about it .Allah sarki”, were Bisalla’s
last words.
There were allegations that some of those who died
might not have been part of the plot.Gomwalk, for instance, would have been saved.There was 50-50 deadlock
by members of the Supreme Military Council.But the
power of veto nailed him,just like Wya.Tense talked
about ‘fair justice’.
Dimka was not known for his bravery. He gained
attention in July 1966 for murdering his brigade commander Lt.Col Israel Okoro. He chased Maj. Samuel
Ogbemudia from Kaduna to Kogi through jungles
and rivers in the bid to kill.Dimka’S arrest nailed so
many officers. Maj. Clement Dabang, one of those who
killed Gen. Thomas Aguiyi-Ironsi, was bundled from
the hospital bed to detention. Dimka outwitted him.
Capt. Malachy Parvwang refused to fall to bullets.He
was beaten to death by soldiers, after the executions.
Gomwalk,was five months old in the Police force
when Ironsi was killed in July 1966.Zoology graduate
of the University of Ibadan,and holder of the Queen’s
Badge of the Boy’s Brigade,he was one of the detectives
that retrieved Ironsi’s body.He maintained innocence
until the guns boomed.
Wya’s European wife could not bear her husband’s
death that she committed suicide soon after by crashing
her car unto a trailer in Kaduna.
With all these, it appears to me that it was Dimka’s
word against the others.And his word was death. Gen’
Yakubu Danjuma and Hassan Katsina escaped Dimka’s fiery tongues.And the way he died has not helped
matters.Although he did not disappear like Clement
Yildar and Dauda Usman, his manner of death has not
disappeared from my radar.

Those in favour of the Pope’s visit to Nigeria (4)
Bashorun JK Randle
Continued from Wednesday

A

ccording to her, the youths in
their thou
sands lynched them and macheted one of her security men
who was trying to show his vigilante
ID card before turning to set the other
and her jeep ablaze.
Muazu who was speaking in tears,
said one of the security men had two
wives and 13 children, while the other
one had one wife and five children,
adding that it took the intervention of
the Ibrahim Taiwo area commander,
Mr. Affam to rescue her and her children.
On whether she had been contacted
by Borno state government committee
on the Giwa Barracks attack in Maiduguri, for assistance and possible
compensation to the families of the
slain security men, she said she was
yet to be contacted by the committee.
She called on the Borno State Government to regulate the activities of the
civilian JTF, as according to her, the
mob that attacked them were not in
uniform and nobody could identify
whether they are civilian JTF or not.
Reacting to the incident, the Legal Adviser to the Civilian JTF, Mr. Jibrin
Gunda said that those who attacked

her are not their members, adding
that they regulate and monitor the
activities of their members sector by
sector, ward by ward and unit by unit.
Gunda said that the members of the
group, who volunteer themselves for
the restoration of peace to the state,
would not involve themselves in such
unlawful act, stressing that anybody
who has any problem of violation
of his human right, should report
to their office for further investigation and necessary disciplinary measures.”
On March 12 2014 the “Daily Independent” newspaper carried a story that
should scare the living daylight out of
any prospective visitor to Nigeria unless he or she is covered by the blood
of Jesus.
“Rivers Police kill three, parade 30 suspected robbers”
In the drive to stem down the wave
of crime rate, the Rivers State Police
Command said it has killed three
suspected armed robbers at Umelelu
community, in Elele area of the state,
even as it paraded 30 armed robbery
suspects, including a lady involved in
various criminal activities.
Parading the suspects at the Police
Command headquarters in Port Harcourt on Tuesday, the State Commissioner of Police, Tunde Ogunsakin
said the armed robbery suspects had
some exchange of gun fire with men

of the special Anti-Robbery Squad
who were on their way to attend to a
distress call.
He said the Police team was ambushed by the robbers who opened
fire on them.
“After a gun duel which lasted for
some minutes three robbers were
shot dead while one AK47 rifle and
two magazines, twenty two of 7.62mm
ammunition, one locally made pistol
with four rounds of 9mm ammunition
and one black Volkswagen golf with
registration number AA941 UGH were
recovered” he said.
Ogunsakin pointed out that other suspects who were paraded were involved
in other criminal activities such as
kidnapping and car snatching.
According to the Commissioner, “On
February 20 2014, there was distress
call from the Command control room
that one Ibiso Orinari Atiegoba was
kidnapped by a group of four armed
men along Ada George Road, Port
Harcourt.
“The Command Anti-kidnapping unit
immediately commenced an intensive
search and combing of nearby bush
and all suspected flash points. Following an intensive search which made
them apprehensive of being arrested,
the robbers dropped their victim in
the bush and drove away with her
jeep.
However, in the course of trying to

escape they were arrested. The victim
was rescued unhurt and two suspects
were arrested and have confessed to
their involvement in the crime. Also
on March 1 2014, armed robbers numbering about five invaded a cosmetic
store in Port Harcourt. Based on
available intelligence which we discreetly analyzed, we swung into action and arrested two persons with
one Barretta pistol with six rounds
of ammunition as well as one locally
made pistol. The two suspects confessed to the crime”.
The CP noted that all the Area Commanders and Divisional Police Officers in the State have been directed to
intensity their efforts in crime fighting by embarking on intensive patrols
and massive raids of suspected criminal hideouts and black spots.
He warned those involved in all kinds
of criminal activities in the State to
have a change of heart or relocate
from the State stressing that “I intend to continue to deploy my expertise in crime fighting and prevention
in the State against criminals until
the crime situation is brought to near
zero”.
To be continued
• Bashorun J.K. Randle (jkrandleintuk@gmail.com)
writes from Lagos

ARTS
FRIDAY, MAY 9, 2014

CULTURE

21
NEW TELEGRAPH

www.newtelegraphonline.com/arts

TONY oKUYEME
tony.okuyeme@newtelegraphonline.com

okuyemeogom@yahoo.com

Without culture, and the relative
freedom it implies, society, even
when perfect, is but a jungle. This
is why any authentic creation is a
gift to the future."
― Albert Camus

Experts ponder on new ideology
for Africa, Diaspora development
Tony Okuyeme

T

he Centre for Black and African Arts
and Civilization (CBAAC) 9th Global African Colloquium in Kingston
on the theme, “Toward a New PanAfricanism: Deploying Anthropology,
Archaeology, History and Philosophy in
the Service of Africa and the Diaspora”
ended with a call for among other things,
the sustained production of films, movies and documentaries on historical figures and experiences from the continent
and the Diaspora.
Noting that the disciplines of Anthropology, Archaeology, History and Philosophy could be deployed in defining
and constructing a new Pan Africanist
agenda for development in Africa and
the Diaspora; the educational programs
are not sufficiently structured or developed to decolonize the African mind and
are still generally Eurocentric in curricular and methodologies; the conference also recommended that African
scholars and public intellectuals must
deconstruct Eurocentric tendencies and
dependencies and develop epistemologies that are reflective of African realities, relevant to Africa and her Diaspora,
responsive to the challenges of sociopolitical, economic and intellectual development of Africa and the Diaspora.
These are among the recommendations
contained in a communiqué issued at the
end of the International Conference, organized by CBAAC in collaboration with
the University of the West Indies, Mona
Campus Kingston, Jamaica, the African
Caribbean Institute of Jamaica (ACIJ),
the Pan African Strategic and Policy Research Group (PANAFSTRAG), the High
Commission of South Africa Jamaica,
and the Nigeria High Commission in
Jamaica, and held at the University of
West Indies, Mona Campus, Kingston –
Jamaica April 24 – 25, 2014.
Despite decades of experimentation
with different economic policies and
programmes, the world’s absolute poor
still live on the African continent. With
only a few exceptions, most countries on
the continent are caught in the poverty
trap, with more than half of the population living below the poverty line and
on less than $1 per day. The problem of
poverty has been compounded by needless political crises that often resulted in
violent conflicts on the continent.
Unfortunately, like the African continent, the African Diaspora is also faced
with its own challenges. The continent’s
diaspora is plagued with the problems
of socio-political and economic exclusion. Despite constituting significant
segments of their countries’ population,
most Diaspora Africans are condemned
to the lowest socio-economic rung of the
ladder in their own societies and are
almost excluded from political participation. Added to these, Diaspora Africans face the challenges of domination,
inequality, poverty, disease and racial
discrimination.
In the face of these challenges confronting Africans on the continent and
the Diaspora, concerted and strategic
response is required to frontally tackle
them. According to the communiqué,
at the end of highly engaging deliberations, the Conference observed that: “Pan

Duke (left), Babawale (3rd right) and other guests at the opening ceremony of the International Colloquium.

Africanism as an ideological framework
provided a guide and direction for the
course of decolonization and could be a
basis for the development of Africa and
the Diaspora in a globalized world; there
was a significant lack of youth participation even though we were on the university campus and had youth involved
in the registration process daily; Africa
and the Diaspora have enough scholars
and intellectual resources to fully reflect
on African situations and contexts with
better and deeper understanding because
of the advantage of their being products
of the cultural milieu of their study areas; a new Pan Africanism presupposes
a new Africa which cannot be produced
by the dominant forces of the West; it
must be a product of informed engagement with the African past; Studies on
Africa are usually guided or premised on
frameworks and concepts that are developed by and meaningful to the dominant
oppressive ideology; global Africans face
severe identity crisis which finds manifestation in the lack of understanding by
the new generation of the challenges facing Africa and its diaspora and becomes
a challenge when trying to unite around
collective issues; and that the changing
definitions of identity both in Africa and
in the Diaspora as a result of the forces of
globalization.”
Also, “there is a destruction of the
sense of self, alienation from African
cultural identities and adoption of
white supremacist ontologies by Africans and Africans in the Diaspora, including those in the academia; there is
a lack of correlation between economic
growth and the quality of life of Africans in Africa and the Diaspora; and the
need to re-define the relations of power

The production of films,
movies and documentaries
on historical figures and
experiences from the
continent and the Diaspora
should be actively pursued;
Africans should value each
other
in knowledge production and utilization
between the West on the one hand and
Africa on the other.
Conference therefore also recommends that: “In encouraging Africans from the Diaspora to visit Africa,
CBAAC and similar African organizations should provide a database of interested Diasporan Africans who would
like to go to Africa as well as those in
Africa who are willing to host brothers and sisters from the Diaspora; the
production of films, movies and documentaries on historical figures and
experiences from the continent and the
Diaspora should be actively pursued;
Africans should value each other. This
means respecting our past, our ancestry
and embracing courageously the challenge of building our future together;
we need our scholars to communicate
with us, they must be accountable to the
African youth, be more approachable/
available to engage with the grassroots
community; Elitism must be discouraged; provide funding to create a Brain
Trust of best minds “experts” and “com-

munity stakeholders” who will be able
to design the strategic plan for Africa
and Diaspora development and implement the solutions needed; and provide
funding to support initiatives and organizations committed to youth and
community leadership development.
Strengthen Civic societies to hold leadership accountable.”
“We must develop a language we can
use similar to how the European languages are taught by strengthening the
mandate of the African Heritage Project; create a database of curriculum in
a format easy to use by teachers, parents
and community members and made
available via the internet for free; create
a skills database of African intellectuals
and Professionals in other to identify
what they are doing and could be part
of Africa’s development agenda; create
partnerships with Historical Black Colleges and University that can become
sister universities with African universities; evaluation of the role of education and the curriculum to tie it into the
findings of the needs assessment; create a comprehensive needs assessment
which is adaptable to each country’s
needs. This assessment will be the guiding document for the creation of education and training needs for each country
and will tie into internships for college
students; develop international relationships between CARICOM, African
Union and the Americas; develop youth
entrepreneurial programs to begin to
create future business people for Africa;
open up travel opportunities and remove
visa restrictions between Africa and the
Diaspora; establish African administraCONTINUED ON PAGE 22

22 ART

Sanctity of Truth

Friday, May 9, 2014

CORA declares 2014 ‘The Soyinka Year’
T
he Committee for Relevant Art
(CORA) has declared 2014 ‘The
Soyinka Year’ and proclaimed the
theme of this year’s edition of the
Lagos Book and Art Festival (LABAF)
as Freedom &The Word.
CORA in a statement jointly signed
by its Secretary General, Toyin Akinosho and Program Chair, Jahman Anilukapo, asserts that declaring 2014
Soyinka’s year and the LABAF theme
go well together: “Soyinka has worked
towards the unshackling of our freedom of expression for all these years
and in the year of the 25th anniversary
of the Fall of The Berlin Wall; 20th anniversary of South Africa’s democracy
and the 15th year of Nigeria’s end to
military rule, it is fitting to honour a
landmark birthday of a man whose
life-long career irrepressibly dotes on
concern about human Freedom(s) with
a year-long programme that interrogates our quest for freedom, especially
through the letters.”
Every programme of CORA in 2014,
including the Art Stampede, our quarterly conversation on the state of the
arts and the administration of culture;

the Arthouse Forum, our periodic symposium on interface between the lives/
work of a distinguished culture producer and the social environment, the
Booktrek, CORA’s outreach intervention focused on youth education as well
as the Lagos Book And Art Festival,
an annual feast of celebration of the
written word, and our contribution to
turning Nigeria’s teeming masses into
true human capital, shall reflect this
honour.
The Lagos Book and Art Festival
2014, which is the 16th edition, will run
for from November 14 to 16 at the Freedom Park on Broad Street. Pre-Festival
events, including the yearly Publishers’ Forum, Worksop for Young Writers
and Publishers, as well as finale of the
Book Trek, start on Monday November
10 and round up on November 13.
The festival features readings and
conversations around books, art and
craft displays, children’s art workshops
and reading sessions, book exhibitions,
live music and theatre performance,
capacity building workshops and exhibitions, and critical seminars for different sectors of the creative industries.

Soyinka

CNN, Multichoice, launch
African Journalist Awards 2014
Tony Okuyeme

C

NN International and
MultiChoice this week officially launched the CNN
MultiChoice African Journalist 2014 Awards.
The competition for African nationals based on the
continent welcomes entries
from journalists creating
content targeting an African
audience. Also this year, the
competition has become even
easier for journalists to enter,
with submissions being made
via the entry form website
http://www.cnnmcaja.cnn.
com.
Executive Vice President
and Managing Director of
CNN International, Tony
Maddox said: “Since the very
beginning, these Awards have
discovered and rewarded superlative African journalism
across the continent. With
even more of Africa’s storytellers now able to share their
work with us, we expect even
more outstanding entries.
The categories this year also
perfectly mirror the reality
of today’s Africa’s multi-platform media scene. As Africa’s
leading news provider, we’re
delighted to play our part in
supporting the excellent journalism these Awards yield annually.”
CEO MultiChoice Africa,
Nico Meyer said this year
promises to once again highlight Africa’s best journalistic
talent. “As we enter our 10th
year as partners to the CNN
MultiChoice African Journalist Awards, we continue
to be amazed and honoured
by the phenomenal impact
that this initiative has had
on the continent. It certainly
has been a game changer for
the advancement of media development and quality journalism, showcasing top-class
journalists who can compete
heads and shoulders with

their peers on the world stage.
This year promises to once
again highlight Africa’s best
journalistic talent.”
South Africans Msindisi
Fengu and Yandisa Monakali, from South Africa were
awarded the top prize at the
CNN MultiChoice African
Journalist 2013 Awards ceremony. Their work ‘Investigation series: School hostels
of Shame’, which appeared
in South African daily print
newspaper Daily Dispatch
investigated the appalling
conditions being experienced
by thousands of pupils in the
Eastern Cape of South Africa,
uncovering hygiene and safety risks in school hostels and
lifting the lid on corruption
within the education department. It was chosen from 1387
entries from 42 nations across
the African continent.
Over the past 19 years, the
competition has grown in
size and status to become Africa’s most prestigious media
event. In 2013, a ‘Highlights
Programme’ of the ceremony,
held in Cape Town, South Africa, was broadcast in 46 African countries, plus the UK,
USA and the Caribbean.
Open to journalists working in any medium, this year
the competition will recognise excellence in the following categories: Culture
Award, The Coca-Cola Company Economics & Business

The categories this
year also perfectly
mirror the reality
of today’s Africa’s
multi-platform
media scene

Award, GE Energy & Infrastructure Award (NEW), Environment Award, MSD Health
& Medical Award, News Impact Award (NEW), Mohamed
Amin Photographic Award,
Press Freedom Award, Sport
Reporting Award, Francophone General News Awards
– Electronic media & Print,
Portuguese Language General News Awards - Electronic
media & Print
From these categories, an
independent judging panel
will choose the overall winner
- The CNN MultiChoice African Journalist 2014. Finalists
in the 2014 competition will
participate in a finalists’
programme that will include
a media forum and networking opportunities with senior
journalists, editors, business
leaders and media owners
from across the continent,
culminating in a gala awards
ceremony later in the year.
The CNN MultiChoice African Journalist 2014 will have
the opportunity to participate
in the CNN Journalism Fellowship at CNN Headquarters in Atlanta.
GE Energy & Infrastructure Award category celebrates the role that Energy
& Infrastructure play in a
nation’s development.
A
wide-reaching topic, entries
may include coverage of issues including infrastructure
development projects; energy;
fuel resources; roads; rail and
natural resources.
News Impart Award recognises stories that, as a result
of their coverage, have made
a tangible impact in one or
more of the following areas:
reaction within their target
audience; changes in behaviour; policy and increased
public awareness. Entries
can include current affairs
features; news coverage; indepth and investigative stories.

tive structures on solid intellectual and academic traditions;
set up task force and timeline
for the realization of recommendations; and translate the
communiqué into African and
other European languages.”
Earlier in his address at the
opening of the Conference,
Minister for Tourism, Culture
and National Orientation, High
Chief Edem Duke, while noting that the theme of this conference is relevant given the
challenges and prospects of
Africa’s and Africa’s diaspora
development, said, “Although
our countries may be separated
geographically, culturally and
linguistically, we share a common vision to attain economic
growth, sustainable development and an improved living
standard for our peoples. As a
matter of importance and urgency, we must deploy and utilize these areas of knowledge in
our mutual quest for development. The theme of CBAAC’s
international conference is
therefore relevant and timely”.
The choice of Jamaica for
this conference, Duke said, is a
good one. “Our countries shares
cultural affinity. Jamaica’s biggest cultural export to Nigeria
is music and fashion. Nigeria’s
Nollywood enjoys great patronage from Jamaicans. Consequently, organizing a conference of this magnitude here in
Kingston will surely strengthen
bilateral relationship between
our countries,” he said.
“I am also glad and delighted
that the Centre never relents at
directing attention to issues of
concern to Black and African
peoples through its numerous
programmes. I have kept track
of CBAAC’s activities and I
wish to express satisfaction
with what I have seen so far.”
In his address, Director-Gen-

We must develop a
language we can use
similar to how the
European languages
are taught by
strengthening the
mandate of the
African Heritage
Project
eral of CBAAC, Prof Tunde Babawale stated that although, the
Centre engages in other activities on regular basis, “the annual international colloquium
is the flagship of the series of
conferences, workshops, public lectures and other intellectual programmes organized or
sponsored by us. Our annual
International Conference is
one of such programmes that
the Centre organizes not only
to bring to the front burner issues affecting global Africans
and the general public for intellectual discourse but it is in
part fulfillment of the Centre’s
mandate of reconnecting Africa and her Diaspora.”
Babawale added that several
reasons inform CBAAC’s decision to organize the 9th International Conference in collaboration with our partners woven
around the theme: ‘Toward a
New Pan-Africanism: Deploying
Anthropology, Archaeology, History and Philosophy in the Service of Africa and the Diaspora’.
Our resolve was motivated by the
desire to confront the numerous
socio-economic and political
challenges facing the African
continent and the Diaspora using Anthropology, Archaeology,
History and Philosophy.”

MEDIA 23

Sanctity of Truth

Friday, May 9, 2014

Press Freedom, imperative for every democracy
Ebere Ameh

“I

nform the public and the country will be secure.” “I believe
that freedom of expression especially freedom of the press is
not only a liberty, but one could say
it’s the key liberty.” “No great starvation has ever taken place in a country
that has a democratic regime and has
even a relative freedom of the press.”
These three quotes by former president of the United States, Abraham
Lincoln, Late Prof. Joseph Ki-Zerbo
from Burkinafaso, and Economics
Nobel Prize winner, Amartya Sen
respectively, are what Eduardo Cue
used to start his chat with Journalists in Lagos to mark this year’s World
Press Freedom Day. “Three different
people with different beliefs and occupation but all believe that freedom of
the press is essential in a democratic
society,” he said.
In a digital video conference on
Tuesday at the US Consulate, Lagos,
Cue who is an international Journalist and Media Consultant based in
France, discussed the issue of press
freedom as a necessity for free, fair
and violence-free elections.
An election, according to him, is
the key moment in a democracy. “It
is the moment when the average person can actually have something to
say and can have an influence in the
direction of the country. But it cannot
work if the public does not know, and
the public can only know through the
Journalists.”
He enumerated the role of the media in a democratic election to include
the offering of an impartial and complete information which will allow the
citizens to make decisions about its
country and its future; offering a coherent framework to help the citizens
understand the complexity of modern
world and speaking in the name of
the public, thereby forcing political
and economic elite to take account
of their views. Others are serving as
the transport for different points of
view from all different people in the
society; being compassionate and understanding towards the poor and disadvantaged so as to allow the citizens
to understand the plight of others and
offering a forum for public discussion
and opening their pages and broadcast time to different points of view
so that debate can go on.
Cue added that “it is not just enough
for Journalists to criticize, that is an
easy part. What is not so easy is to do
it in a responsible manner, in a way
that is equitable. It is not just good
enough to say such and such a person
is corrupt, you have to do some work,
get the facts and prove that before you
go out. This is because you may be destroying people’s reputation unfairly
which is not good journalism.” Citing Ki-Zerbo, he said, “..... a journalist
who truly wants to contribute to the
construction of a democratic society
should not be the frivolous and trembling echo of his master. This master
can be the leader of a political opposition, the president or the head of a
multinational corporation.”
Continuing, he said unfair criticism is one of the problems facing
the African press, which he thinks
has become so free that it has gone
from supporting the government to
outright criticism of the government.
“It is not the role of the press in
a democracy to oppose one group or
ideology in order to support another
one. That is exchanging one master
for the other. The role of the journalist is to inform the society so that it
can in turn make right decisions as
to who will govern them. Their role is

President Jonathan addressing the press.

not to sing the praise of one political
party or group and blindly criticize
another. This has been the problem
with the African press as it tries to
find its way. This is particularly the
case in political reporting particularly in elections.”
Cue pointed out that people in power are always afraid but the role of
Journalists in a democratic society is
to bring these issues out and hold up
a mirror to the society. According to
him, a journalist is neither supposed
to be a moralizer, telling people what
to do, what to think, how to do and
how to think, nor is he supposed to
resolve the problems in the society.
The Journalist only needs to make
people aware of the problem.
“Election period is a time that
journalists can move forward a democracy. It is also very frequently, a
time when journalism fails so badly
because it is much too partisan and
does not do the job that it is supposed
to do, which is to present what is
going on and try to help the people
make sense of it all.”
Using the allegory of the referee
in a football match, Cue advised that
the Political Journalist should be
passionate about politics but in a removed way. “If you are so interested,
be a politician,” he stated.
A veteran Journalist who has spent
his career covering major news events
around the world, spanning elections,
wars and human right issues among
others, Cue noted that globally, the
media is manipulated so much by
those in power. Defining those in
power to include politicians, heads
of governments and multinational
corporations, he said that even the
US and the developed economies are
not excluded.
“In whatever system, including
in well-established democracies, the
general interest of the public and the

The role of the journalist
is to inform the society
so that it can in turn
make right decisions as
to who will govern them.
Their role is not to sing
the praise of one political
party or group and blindly
criticize another
interest of those who have the economic, political and social powers
are not the same. Generally speaking,
those who have power want to hold on
to the power and they will act against
anyone who is a threat to their power, whether it be political or in most
cases, economic power. So the role of
the media is to be able to give those
who don’t have a voice, who don’t have
power, a voice. To allow the average
citizen to be able to make his or her
voice heard.”
He notes that if the American press
had been privy to the arguments put
forward by the Bush administration
for the invasion of Iraq, maybe the
catastrophe would have been averted.
Citing the Wiki leak saga, Snowden
and the Bay of Pigs Invasion, Cue believes however that the populace is
better off knowing.
“History has shown in the case of
national security that most of the
time, the government, the people and
the country are better off when information are made available to the
public. For example, before the Bay
of Pigs invasion in 1961, when the
Keneddy Administration supported

an invasion of Cuba by Cubans who
had fled the country in an effort to
overthrow the Castro regime, the new
York times learnt of the invasion and
Kennedy himself called the Editor of
the New York Times to ask that the
article announcing the invasion not
be published, because it will destroy
the operation that was to get rid of
Fidel Castro. Afterwards the invasion
turned out to be a disaster and John
Kennedy himself said afterwards that
he was sorry about two things, no. 1,
having asked the New York Times not
to publish the article ahead of the invasion and, no. 2 that the New York
Times listened to him. If the article
had been published, the catastrophe
would have been avoided.”
Despite his belief in freedom of
the press, Cue who has conducted
media and communication trainings
in several African countries, including Nigeria on behalf of the ARS and
the US Embassies for more than 20
years insists that there is a limit to the
freedom, which to him, is dependent
on the culture.
Journalists, he posited, are not
angels. “In fact one of the real problems we have today is that Journalism
itself is not always clean. There is a
lot of corruption within Journalism,
especially in places where Journalists are not well formed, not well paid,
sometimes not paid at all and Journalists that don’t have much of a choice
than to follow the party line, Journalist that are threatened or put in jail.”
He encouraged news media owners including the government to ensure that the media organizations
are financially independent, that the
journalists are well paid and have
conducive working conditions. Only
this will help to curb undue influence by power brokers and give the
populace the opportunity of objective
reportage.

24 TOURISM
Andrew Iro Okungbowa

N

igeria has vast forest reserve and
conservation area with seven national parks, all enclaves of rich and
diverse natural resources. Okomu
National Park located in Ovia SouthWest local government area of Edo State,
is one of the national parks. Like the others, it is uniquely and richly endowed
with an ecosystem and natural resources, particularly fauna and flora, which
should make the park an attraction for
economic growth and tourists’ haven.
But as revealed by the Conservator of the
park, Mr. Cornelius Ojo Oladipo, it is still
a long way to go in meeting the mandate
of the park, given its continues engagement with the host communities, forest
and animal poachers. All these are due to
ignorance on the part of the communities on why they should work in conjunction with the park’s management to conserve and preserve the richness of their
resources and paucity of funds, among
others to effectively serve the interest of
the park and the communities.
What is your assessment of protection and
conservation of our natural resources?
Unfortunately, we all seem to forget
easily where we are coming from. In the
old days of our fathers, it is a taboo to
invade forests either for farming or hunting. Things were organized and done in
a sustainable manner.
We grew up to see and know that certain types of fish are not to be harvested
at their young age and when mistakenly
done, they are thrown back to the river
and this formed a path of conservation
even though we may claim that our old
people are not educated.
It has even been proven that the natural resources received more protection
during those periods than now and this
is what gave birth to an organization
such as the National Parks Service (NPS)
which today effectively promotes within
all the six geo-political zones in Nigeria,
the preservation and protection of the
country’s forests and animal resources.
Indeed, with the obvious effect of climate
change, increase in population and its
attendant urbanization and industrialization, Nigeria needs to wake
up to protect our resources from
extinction.
How do you engage with your host
community?
We design message deliberately targeted at Okomu National Park stakeholders. To our local
communities, there is the continuous need to explain why we occupy
their lands and hold it in trust for
them. We need to explain why
trees cannot be harvested and why
elephants need not be hunted.
This process of engagement has
reduced conflict between
the people and our
forest rangers.
On our own
part, we
dedicate
our resources to
as-

Oladipo

Sanctity of Truth

Friday, May 9, 2014

Poor funding, ignorance hamper
our conservation mandate
sist in grading their farm roads, health
centres, schools, give seed money to farmers and hunters to engage in business
that will keep them away from invading
the forest and depleting the resources
therein.
It should also be noted that the communities around us take up about 80
percent of the job openings in Okomu
National Park.
What are some of the challenges in this
regard?
I will want to itemise them because
of their impacts. The first and most important is lack of understanding of what
we are doing here. Though the concept of
protected areas management is not too
recent with us, we however still grapple
to explain to majority of the policy makers why certain acres of our landmass
need to be set aside for protection and
conservation.
To change their perception, we need
a huge publicity fund which we don’t
have and to which corporate organizations can be of great help. Our location
in the south-south region also provide
challenges, particularly at the height of
militancy in the region which has been
arrested now. We pray for total elimination so that visitors within and outside
Nigeria can find it a worthy experience
to visit and behold mother nature and testify to the good work we are doing here.
Also, population increase gives birth
to logging and over exploitation of forest
resources. Within and around Edo State,
the growth of saw – millers are on the
increase and with massive industrialization; illegal logging definitely threatens
this frontier.
However, through aggressive conservation, enlightenment
campaigns and prosecution, we drive the
process of mitigating
the danger. Other
challenges are
poaching, infrastructural needs
and communication. As you
may be aware,
the demand
for bush meat
is on the increase despite
the growth of
animal farming.
Within our
park, we have
elephants, white
throated monkey and

Okomu is the home of
nature with a signature
of un-diluted clean air
and with a paradise - like
environment. It is also
the least disturbed forest
environment in Nigeria
these cannot be seem anywhere else except within our ranges, so hunters tend to
target us for attacks and poaching.
Remember that we are in a rain forest region, therefore the roads here pose
great challenge to us and our communities. Sharing boundaries with Okomu
Oil Plantation creates issues as we are
sometimes mistaken for our millionaire
Palm Oil producing neighbours.
Like I said earlier, things are looking
up security wise. For over three years
that I have been here; there have been
no incidence of kidnapping. As a forested
area, rural telephony can help link us
up with the outside world and make our
location more attractive to investors and
visitors.
What are some of the benefits of the rich
diverse and rich ecosystem of Okomu
National Park?
Okomu is the home of nature with
a signature of un-diluted clean air and
with a paradise - like environment. It is
also the least disturbed forest environment in Nigeria. Okomu is home to forest
elephant and white throated monkey and
birds’ enthusiasts will find this ecosystem more than a passing professional
interest.
As a rest house of nature, tourists
interested in pharmacology, research
and students of Botany, have a laboratory of immense and interesting findings
in Okomu. Whoever visits Okomu will
forever be at peace with nature and will
be transformed instantly into a nature
advocate.
The federal government recently upgraded
the status of the national parks to that of
paramilitary, what exactly it is meant to
serve?
We are grateful to President Goodluck
Jonathan for upgrading the parks to
paramilitary status. In Zimbabwe, Kenya
and South – Africa, park management
in these places and even in the United
States enjoys the status of military command and work environment. Guns are
not meant to kill anyone but to protect
our flora and fauna resources from sophisticated gun carrying forest poachers.

What can light weapon do against
poachers and illegal loggers armed with
AK 47 and ready to waste our rangers’
lives? Our new status will help conservation and give honour to our operations.
It is a global practice and a welcome
development as we wait anxiously the
inauguration of this new status so as to
enable us effectively take charge of our
forest to a reasonable extent.
How do you contend with some of the
conservative views that it is a waste to
leave such a huge forest land in the care
of the National Parks Service while the
communities are left with almost depleted
land to farm and hunt?
We appreciate the fact that people are
yet to understand our mandate particularly why we need to hold such earth
resources in trust for the country and
generations yet unborn. The benefits are
enormous, some you can see and others
intangible and not readily seen.
However, we are determined to make a
change, so more publicity and advocacy
for change of attitudes towards our mandate would be intensified. Human beings
must have conflicts but we must resolve
them. We are always thinking of the community first and we hope to sustain the
effort.
Look at the situation at Lake Chad
which has dried up due to human activities such as deforestation. This is
more dangerous than HIV/AIDS and
those who criticize us for not doing
enough should appreciate that there
are young men and women who sacrifice their lives daily to patrol the forest
so that we can have clean air, provide
food and safeguard water resources
now and for the future. Green tourism
(Eco tourism), which is a by – product
of our conservation efforts can provide
employment windows and drive recreation facilities.
How do you source for funding for the
execution of your various communities
related projects and effective management
of the park?
Funding a huge organization as this is
always an issue because you will never
have access to adequate funding. However, time has come for non-governmental
organizations and rich individuals who
love nature to rise up and support our
efforts. We help over forty communities
with jobs and provide employment openings to help them to help us to protect
the environment. Some of our facilities
like chalets, swimming pools and other
visitors’ facilities that can drive green
tourism maybe opened to commercialization. We are an extractor sector and not
a revenue generating agency as people
tend to misunderstand the term. So in
all we crave for more funding, to help us
meet and manage our mandate.

White throated monkey, endemic to Okomu National Park.

Entertainment

NEW TELEGRAPH

25

www.newtelegraphonline.com/entertainment

SOny Neme
Entertainment Editor

sony.neme@newtelegraphonline.com
0811 181 3096

FRIDAY, MAY 9, 2014

More drama over Half Of A Yellow Sun
A
stories by sony neme

week after its botched release date of May 2, this
year, in cinemas in Nigeria,
the drama surrounding the
certification of the well-received
Half of AYello Sun appears far
from over, if a press release
titled: “Half of a Yellow Sun Nigerian Cinema Release – Update,” is anything to go by.
In the release, Shareman Media, the Nigerian producers, and
FilmOne Distribution, the Nigerian distributors of the multibillion naira film, declared:
"The public release of Half of a
Yellow Sun in Nigeria remains
postponed due to the fact that
the National Film and Video
Censors Board (NFVCB) has
not yet certified the film. The
release date will be announced
once the Board has certified the
film for release to the public.
“The producers and distributors of the film regret this continuing delay. We are deeply
appreciative of the overwhelming interest shown in the film by
Nigerians everywhere. Please
be assured that we are doing
everything within our means to
achieve certification and release
as soon as possible."
That was an outcome of the
top management meeting with
NFVCB that had earlier fired
thus: “We don't fix date. The film
owners decide their date after
they have been presented with
their certificate. We approve
movies, and that is where our
buck stops. We don't choose
dates. I have not seen that in
our books.’”
New Telegraph gathered that
ego more than anything else has
been at the center of the rumba.
There is a bit of politics too.
Though procedural errors is
presented as a reason by Nigerian Film and Censorship Board,
NFVCB, the producers’ alleged
resort to some influential Nigerians to prevail on NFVCB, apparently also worked against the
early release.
Sensing that as blackmail,

l Release date not feasible; ego takes toll on common sense

Chiwetel Ejiofor, their kid and Thandie Newton in Half of a Yellow Sun

the regulatory agency is said
to have demanded letters of authority from those asking it to
wave its regulations.
Why did the film even
Said: “Analogy is clear. It is
like you are travelling to the
come out, why did
United Kingdom and you have
your visa. Their embassy won't
the posters and other
tell you when to use it. But you
promo materials
must get your visa before you
can travel there. The process is
come out without the
that we have six zones that have
due process? Why
previewing centres. If you are in
Delta State, there is a centre in
are they going on air
Benin for that zone.
Thewill
late Amaka
Igwe
without
our approval?
“When you go there, they
ask for your posters, CD jacket,
synopsis and the film. At the
preview, at least one of the own- before you fix your dates and
ers must be there, to respond to carry out any promo.”
enquiries. Those saddled with
Top officers of the censorship
the preview have a sheet each board who spoke on condition
for verification and report. Af- of anonymity, also linked “what
ter that, we will verify the docu- transpired at Toronto” during
ments…If there are doubts, you the premier there, as well as the
are referred to clear the areas, alleged interest of the NFVCB

boss, to the current impasse .
According to one of them,
“what happened was that there
were procedural errors, which
the board is trying to amend
concerning the movie. What I
mean is that, after their premier
in Canada, on coming down to
Nigeria, they didn’t go through
the normal proceedings. They
were supposed to go through the
normal censorship process but
they did not. And they went into
promos, exhibitions and screening without going through the
legal route. We were not conversant with what they were
talking about. So, they have to
go back to the drawing board
and ensure that the procedures
are adhered to. That is what
they are doing presently.”
On the consequences of
such breach, he said: “We are
still discussing with them on
our management decision on

the consequences. We are dialoguing with them and we will
come up with some punitive
measures. But, right now, we
are at the process of analyzing exactly what transpired,
what went wrong and why
they erred. Until we come up
with a positive response from
them, we won’t be able to come
up with an authentic response
to that.”
He said the possibility of
the movie making it to cinema
soon is a plus - minus situation.
His words: “If they are able to
adhere to or meet up with what
they couldn’t do on time, they
should be able to get their certificate and go to cinemas. But
if they don’t, it would prolong,
because like I said, there are
procedural errors, which they
are supposed to correct. Once
that is done, they will hit the
cinema and go to the market.”
On the speculated grey areas such as French mercenaries making a mess of Nigerian
security at an airport in Nigeria, Hausa killing Igbos, sex
rump and some derogatory
statement of the late minister
of finance, he declined comment. Rather he said, “We have
our sub-station in Lagos, and
they have verified it. But if
there are certain areas, which
are not too conducive, I think
they are working on it.”
He waved off the gist making the rounds that the film
has been screened twice in
Lagos, by different three-man
panel at different points, and
it was only a lone vote against
it. “That is very wrong information. That gist is not correct
because we are accessing the
whole scenario. Why did the
film even come out, why did
the posters and other promo
materials come out without
the due process? Why are they
going on air without our approval?
So, what are the punishments? “Our punishment…
read our law and you will see
our punishment there.”
Another high ranking official of NFVCB, who would also
not want to be identified, said:
“The business dimension of
it is this-- the people we relate
with will also need to respect
that confidentiality. You can’t
go to the public in a manner
that is injurious to the public,
especially at this point of the
country’s security challenges.
That is the standard procedure
anywhere in the world. And
Nigerian agency, not just the
regulator, should be seen to be
promoting the best practices
in the world.
“In this case, you have an issue with a regulatory agency.
Until those issues are fully
remedied, and both parties
agree to go public with it, the
decent thing to do as a mark of
responsibility is to respect the
tenet of business and adhere
to that bond.”

26 Entertainment

G

ulder Club Ultimate at Enugu ,
last week hosted residents of the
Coal City to a twos of groove. On
parade were Naeto C, comedian
turned lawmaker Tony One Week,
Burna Boy, Yemi Alade and fast rising rapper Sym 19.
Club Ultimate, the famous urbane
clubbing event, which hops from city
to city, transformed the venue into a giant multi-million-naira ultimate cruise
liner. The exterior was customized with
detailed elements of seashore, a walkway tunnel and stylish ushers in sailor
uniforms.
The city came alive as thousands
from neighboring towns trooped to the
Polo Park Mall to witness dazzling performances from four of Nigeria’s hottest
DJ’s as well as local and international
acts.
Darey Art Alade and Freeze of Cool
FM compered the spectacular club event
while the city’s finest radio presenters
Tobe Dadiva in a chic all black ensemble
and Lorenzo Menakaya in a one-of-akind suit glammed up the red carpet.
Marketing Manager, Gulder and Legend, Emmanuel Agu said the ‘initiatives
like Club Ultimate Gulder’s commitment
is to provide superior, unprecedented
experiences for consumers across the
country while ensuring Nigerians enjoy
ultimate entertainment.’
The two-day event started on a high
note with Flavour’s Jazz band thrilling
guests to live performances of popular
local and foreign tracks. Their performance was followed by the indigenous
Ikorodo dancers dressed in colourful
traditional attires dancing to popular
contemporary tracks from the DJ’s turntable.
World-class shows from amazing international acts including Cyril Wheel,
Flame Oz and Gandini Jugglers made a
whole lot of difference.
Some of Africa’s hottest disc jockeys
DJ Neptune, DJ Caise, DJ Spinall and
Big N on the famous GCU floating turntables spun back to back hit songs of
Wizkid’s Caro, Davido’s Aye as well the
city’s very own favourite Phyno’s to the
delight of the cheering crowds till dawn.
Among the special guests in attendance were Enugu State Honourable
Commissioner of Culture and Tourism, Mr. Joe Mamel, Honourable Tony
‘One Week’ Muonagor, Naeto C, Burna
Boy, Yemi Alade, Sym 19 amongst other
distinguished guests.

Friday, May 9, 2014

Season III
BurnaBoy,YemiAlade, Unleash
set to begin in Lagos
others storm Enugu T

he people of Ikorodu, Lagos, are
poised to experience a boost in entertainment as the 3rd edition of the lifeimpacting youth-oriented talents showcasing programme, tagged “UNLEASH
Your Talents” gets underway. This year’s
UNLEASH is billed to hold on Sunday, 29.
“UNLEASH” as the event is aptly called,
according to Miss Blessing Erivona who
is the project coordinator, is a youth
re-orientation programme designed to
discover talents as well as serving as a
platform for promotion of discovered
budding talents in the entertainment
sector of Ikorodu division.
In her words, “the concept is geared
towards encouraging Ikorodu-based
youths with special talents in Dance,
Comedy, Music and Modeling to actualize their dreams.
The event, which is an initiative of
Fanafillt Integrated Concepts (the brains
behind the highly successful Miss Institutes Beauty Pageant) is also to enhance
the growth of entertainment industry in
Ikorodu division, boost the socio-economic growth of the division and provide avenue for youths to channel their energy
towards productive ventures.
The project is already enjoying favorable attention from reputable prints,
electronic and social media platforms.

Flavour finesse for
gospel movies

Festus

T

Burna Boy and Yemi Alade

Absolut excites with signature cocktails

C

Ehiz

elebrations and excitement as premium vodka, Absolut, recently
thrilled consumers with the best
of entertainment. The Sunday event
held at Elegushi Beach in Lagos was
designed for young consumers to create unique Absolut signature cocktails
at the beach. Expectedly, it sparked up
excitement and unlimited possibilities
with a variety of mixers made available
at the popular beach.
The Absolut cocktail beach party
is a back-to-back groove representing a total switch from the norm,
providing a veritable platform for
Absolut vodka consumers and
celebrities to get on the trail of
an inspiring engagement.
It was a fulfilling day as
about 3,000 people embraced
a world full of creativity and
self-expression. Absolut Vodka
is great
neat and
ice-cold
on the
rocks
and a
base
f o r
hund re d s
o
f
drinks
and

cocktails.
For the organizers, “The cocktail
beach party, embodying the Absolut’s
Transform Today spirit, inspired the
power of creation with Absolut in an
extra-ordinary way that depicts its rich,
smooth and mellow flavour with a distinct
character of grain.
In the words of the Marketing Director,
Pernod Ricard Nigeria, Sola Oke, “the activation gives us an opportunity to inspire
a generation of creative Millenials. Those
who leave transformative marks and the
Absolut brand certainly provide young
people the right platforms to have such
unique experiences. We will continue to
lead the pack in transforming the society
in a creative way, which transcends cultural boundaries.”
Oke also announced that as part of
the transformation, Absolut is giving its
consumers a lifetime experience for their
loyalty to the premium vodka over the
years. The on-going activation includes
several cocktail beach parties where inspiring and creative minds can mix and
own their signature cocktails.
And as partners of the Transform Today category of the 2014 MAMAs, Absolut
Vodka is giving five lucky people a chance
to win VVIP tickets to the MTV Africa Music Awards in Durban, South Africa.

he fact that gospel movies are meant
to preach the message of God does
not mean they should be boring, lack
finesse and shabby in terms of picture
quality and story line.
So for ace photographer, Favour Fayo
Festus, “The positive change needed
by gospel movies is possible and he is
ready to go to any length to make it happen with contribution from his camera
even as he also intends exporting his
language and culture.”
Says the Akoko-Edo born younger
brother of Nollywood actor/director,
Femi Ogedegbe: “My secret dream is to
give gospel film a new lease of life by
infusing a bit more finesse in picture
quality and add more depth to the story
lines. Just because it is gospel doesn’t
mean it should be bland. I also intend
to take Akoko-Edo language and culture
to the world to conquer language barriers by expertly employing pictures that
speak louder than words.”
Favour, who started out as an apprentice cameraman in 2001, shot his
first movie The Big Pretender directed
by Stanley Williams in 2005. Since then,
the well-respected DOP (director of
photography) has worked with some of
Nollywood’s best directors like Aquilla
Njamah, Said Balogun, Austin Awulonu,
Ernest Obi and Alex Mouth of Tinsel.
He was DOP for Jungle Jewel by
Neville Ossai, which won an award at
the 2014 AMVA (Africa Movies Viewers’
Choice) Awards and Trinity directed by
Pascal Amanfo, which was nominated at
ZAFA Awards in the UK. He was also a
member of the Gulder Ultimate Search
Season 7 team.

Entertainment

Friday, May 9, 2014

Redeemed rocks with Lagos SHIFT

Obinna Maduka (holding mic) at the event...recently.

A

26-year-old gospel musician, Obinna Maduka, became the talent
hunt winner at the event organised by The Redeemed Christian
Church of God (RCCG) in conjunction
with Afreen Oil and Total Upstream
Oil. Maduka, who won through an electronic e-voting among 20 contestants,
received N1 million, a plaque and was
appointed the Lagos Shift Ambassador
2013.
He has this to say, “This award is a
reward for all hard work that I have put
in over two weeks and it is only the beginning and an indication of what can
be achieved with dedication.”
It was singing, dancing and comedy
at its best on Workers’ Day as the Redeemed Church of God got youths from
their eight zones in Lagos to the Cricket
pitch of Tafawa Balewa, Onikan-Lagos.
It was the Season Three of Lagos
SHIFT.
The talented youths from Badagary
zone, which ironically was left out until

NAETO C denies
ever signed on
Storm Records!
aetochukwu Chikwe betNdeclared
ter known as Naeto C has
that he was never

really signed on to the Storm
Records label owned by Obi
Asika. That was a label he
represented for over sixyears. The easy going crooner was recently signed by Efe
Omoregbe owned Now Muzik.
This revelation would
come as a huge surprise to
fans owing to the unequivocal display from the both the
label and the artiste in what
would seem like a contracted,
mutual agreement.
In a recent interview with a
local cable television station,
he explained the relationship
that, “I was never actually, officially on paper with them,
it was just a function of them
supporting my career ever so
generously.”

a day to the clourful event gave good
account of themselves as Onikoyi got
all dancing with his master delivery.
Ably marshaled by Pastor Charles
Kpandei, the well-attended event which
had King Sunny Ade and Tosin Bee
entertaining, had wife of former Cross
River State governor, Her Excellency,
Owanari Duke as the known personality for the event.
Every SHIFT event, we gathered is
anchored on five pillars, these are solid
entertainment and fun for youths; personal life story told by a known personality with whom the youths can resonate tagged ‘This is my story’ aimed
at bringing about a value and moral
change in the youth; and a platform for
expression of the creative abilities of
young people through talent hunts.
It also embodies ‘empowerment of
youths and identified talents through
financial and other supports to excel
areas of gifting; as well as talk on a
specific area of highlight for an atti-

tude change among youth for a better
society.
In her motivational speech to an appreciative audience, Mr Duke while
speaking on the theme, innovation Personified, took her from Good to Great.
For her, “In today's world especially
the business climate, innovation isn't
an option. It's a fundamental requirement. Necessity has become the mother of invention. Even large organisations just like individuals are more
self-centered than ever before. So you
have to keep setting broad career goals
and constantly sniffling out opportunities to move closer to what you can
uniquely offer, to move up while doing
so.
While encouraging the youth to push
and transcend from good to great, Duke
said quoted Steve Jobs thus: “Innovation will distinguish the leader from
the follower and to be great you must
think like a leader.” She also delved in
to ‘Greatness is by choice and where
you aspire towards, adding that inheritance does not make you great.
while quoting copiously from the
Holy Bible, Duke who doubles as African Director of EMPRETEC, a United
Nations entrepreneurial arm for developing countries, presented them with
ten innovative steps to move from good
to great. Among these are “the why
factor, imbibe integrity, setting smart
goals, independent minded, sustaining
the vision and be diligent and persevere; as well as learning and respecting
earn authority among others.
In his welcome address, Pastor
Kpandei said, “SHIFT is a youth initiative powered by the youth of The
Redeemed Christian Church of God
that holds on May 1…. It is not just an
event, it is a movement, a radical opposition to ignorance, backwardness and
mediocrity; asolution platform, which
has gone beyond the shores of Nigeria
to Dubai, Istanbul and Nairobi. And it
will be going to other part fo the cities
to encourage true change in people.”

nally declared his intention
to tie the knot later in the
year with his fiancée Simi
Osomo, a 2013 Law school
graduate.
The Nigerian entertainment industry has lately
been abuzz with celebrities
getting married to their
sweethearts. Last weekend,
Tiwa Savage and her husband, Tunji ‘Tee Billz’ Balogun held their wedding in
Dubai.
At the ceremony, Tiwa‘s
co-Mavin Records mate, Dr
Sid, dropped a bombshell.
The ‘Surulere’ crooner announced that his wedding
would come up in July. His
announcement was hailed
by his colleagues who are
eagerly waiting for the day
to come.

ariah Carey is set for a reM
turn to her glory days once
again. This was her signal as

merere) is battling to explain himself following a
tweet interpreted by some
as meaning that he is advocating military coup.
The man who revolutionized the comedy business in Nigeria, however,
insists that he was misunderstood as he was only
expressing fear that current developments in the
country might culminate
in a coup d’etat....

the legendary solo artist announced her 14th studio album yesterday, revealing the
artwork and the inspiration
behind “Me. I Am Mariah…
The Elusive Chanteuse.”
The new album comes out
on May 27. Hopefully, Mariah
will wear this dress when she
performs most songs from it.
The album is based on her
“First And Only Self-Portrait,”
which is also the back cover
of the album, Carey explains
in the following video. “Please
don’t judge me for such a simplistic title. Come on, I was only
three and a half,” she jokes.
The singer then adds: "Along
the way there have been a couple nicknames and I’ve inadvertently embodied many personas. Lately, they’ve been calling
me the elusive chanteuse."

27

LYRICS for the week
NO !
By
RIGHTEOUS
MAN
Oh what a suffering and smiling
Innocent people dying like flies
Stop this killing shooting fighting hey
The Righteousman say
No
We can take it no longer
The poor people living in fear
No
This is a serious matter
So much blood sweat and tears
No
We can take it no longer
The poor people living in fear
No
This is a serious matter
So much blood sweat and tears
For so long too long
For so long too long
The poor people living in fear
For so long too long
For so long too long
Corruption in high places
No
We can take it no longer
The poor people living in fear
No
This is a serious matter
So much blood sweat and tears
No
We can take it no longer
The poor people living in fear
No
This is a serious matter
So much blood sweat and tears
How we and dem a go work this out
When them no understand the poor mans’ language
The rich are getting richer
The poor getting poorer
And they say shut up your mouth
What we are go do what we are go do
Things are getting rough
What we are go do what we are go do
Life is getting tough
What we are go do what we are go do
In a time like a this o
What we are go what we are go do
Can you hear the people say
No
We can take it no longer
The poor people living in fear
No
This is a serious matter
So much blood sweat and tears
No
We can take it no longer
The poor people living in fear
No
This is a serious matter
The weak are getting weaker
The strong getting stronger
And they say our vote is our right
If its true our leaders them say
Tell me why people dey suffer everyday
Talk about the plane crash
And the bomb blast
Abi the beggers wen dey beg fi the street
Our government dem promise
Say thing go better
Do you remember Alu killing four
They promise our children good education
See dem being slaughtered like chicken ina we nation
Most of our leaders dem no know what they do
Ask them
A me no know
God dey
That is the poor man’s prayer
God dey
Crying from the ghetto
God dey
For so long and too long
No this is a serious matter
No
We can take it no longer
The poor people living in fear
No
This is a serious matter
No
We can take it no longer
The people living in fear
No
This is a serious matter
For so long too long
We’ve been suffering and smiling
For so long too long
Cost of living is getting high
For so long too long
So much blood sweat and tears
For so long too long
No we can take it no longer

28 Entertainment TELEMOVIES

Friday, May 9, 2014

MAMA AFRICA,
a satire in African
hits cinema today
N
orbert Ajaegbu’s latest, MAMA
AFRICA was at the weekend premiered at the Filmhouse Cinemas
Surulere, Lagos. The film has
introduced a new space on the use of
satire in African cinema. The film is a
rare blend of professionals, established
and budding to make one movie that
reflects the reality that plagues the African continent.
The distributor of the movie, Metro
Classic Pictures represented by Mr
Uwem Jacobs announced that the box
office movie from the stables of Ocean
Movies will be released in cinemas on
the today. He said this was in response
to the throng of calls he had previously
be bombarded with when the trailers
first hit the internet and the buzz the
movie has generated.
Hear him, “With the crowd that we
saw today and how the theater was
overflowing it will be a major relief to
all movie lovers to relive the experience
and finally see a movie that is worth
both their time and money plus see the
reality of African told in simple riddles
too clear to miss the message.”
Ajaegbu, a renowned filmmaker explained that every plot and characterization in the drama depicts particular
sections of the African society.
The glamorous event was attended
by the crème of the industry, including
the Director General of the Nigerian
film Video Censorship Board (NFVCB),
Mrs Patricia Bala business executives
and Nollywood practitioners.
The producer and writer of the movie who is also the Lagos chairperson

Mama Africa

Amaka Igwe: Torrents of
tribute for an amazon
T

The late Amaka Igwe

orrents of tribute has continued pouring for late
Mrs Amaka Igwe, MFR.
Latest on the dial is owner of
celebrity restaurant, O’jez’s
owner, Chief Joseph Odobeatu. Doris Simeon, Genevieve
and Peace Anyiam Osigwe
as well as Zik Zulu Okafor
had earlier sent in their well
couched tribute to one of
their own.
While lending his voice to
those of other entertainment
practitioners who are presently mourning one of their
fallen amazons, who passed
on early last week, Odobeatu,
a record label owner (O’jez
Music) described the Nollywood icon as an ‘asset to the
industry’ while she lived.
His words: “Late Amaka
Igwe was a fighter; I would
best describe her as a Nollywood rights activist. She
was so passionate about the
industry that her passion became an obsession. No matter how hard hearted you are,
Amaka Igwe was able to infect
you with her passion for Nollywood. It was so contagious
that at a point, I was so drawn
to her during my active days
as a reporter just to hear her
talk about her plans for the
industry as well as what government should do to create

an enabling environment for
the sector to grow.”
Odobeatu expressed his
sympathy to the family, the
movie industry and the entire nation. “I want to say
here that it is not only the
late filmmaker’s family that
is mourning her at the moment, the entire country and
Africa are in shock because
we have lost a rare gem in sub
Sahara Africa as far as filmmaking is concerned. Amaka
Igwe was truly an amazon
as most industry people described her today and the sector and nation will sure miss
her immense contributions.
I am still dazed, days after
this sad incident but we are
comforted by the fact that
she lived a worthy life even
it was brief and for that we
are grateful to God that her
name would be remembered
for a long time to come in this
part of the world.”
He said O’jez would be
proud to be part of the funeral activities when the
family finally announces the
schedule. “That will be an
honour on our part as an entertainment centre that has
been heavily involved in Nollywood activities for almost
two decades now,” Odobeatu
submitted.

and national spokesman of the Film
and Video, Producers And Marketers
Association of Nigeria (FVPMAN) described the movie as so far his biggest
contribution to the intellectual commonwealth of the African cinema.
The script was well delivered as
the destitute represented the deprived
populace of the African society, while
Martha’s role ably played by Tonto
Dike, represent certain civilians whose
thoughts emerged from a humble backgrounds, but mortgaged their conscience to the overwhelming influence
of the government.
The military, being the shape shifting archetypes, depicts the dictatorial
tendency of a typical military junta;
delivering tts leadership and control as
an aberration. There were absurd policies mixed with cheap propaganda ever
adopting the divide and rule tactics can
only be defeated whenever the civilian
populace manage to unite and dislodge
the usurper.
The overzealous role of Sergeant Peters played out by Chigozie Atunanya
is a prototype of the average soldier in
power who understands power as oppression and will do anything to please
his superiors even if it goes against
common sense.
The movie also weaves in the story
of the ruling cartel of the typical political elite who take decisions and exert
acts that are adverse to the people as
long as it serves their purpose. The
protagonist character Nathan played
by Zack Oriji depicts how the ungodly
acts of politicians fall back on them in
no distant future.
The well attend show witnessed
tear drop viewers took in the pains of
MAMA AFRICA,

Olaiya

Olaiya Igwe goes
back to school

N

ollywood Yoruba actor, Ebun
Oloyede, aka Ebun Olaiya Igwe,
has expressed his willingness to
go back to school in order to keep himself abreast with time.
According to the actor, who is now
more as a producer and director, his low
academic standard is attributed to his
poor background because there was no
finance for him to be sent to school by
his parents.
“I am from a poor home, my father
was a farmer, while my mother was selling Beans and Rice, just for the family to
survive. So as such, they were not able
to send me to school,” the actor said
Igwe further added that due to schedule, he plans to go back to school in order to upgrade himself.
“I plan on going back to school soonest. I don’t mind if I sit in the same class
with my son. He is there to learn, likewise myself too, he said.”

Entertainment

Friday, May 9, 2014

CinemaWatch (Radio/TV/Events Guide)

MAY 9 – 15 HIGHLIGHTS

Incredibly Small World National
Geographic Tuesday from 13
May at 19:10 CAT***(New series
premiere)
Incredibly Small World is an
eye-opening new series which
uncovers the extraordinary,
surprising and often inspiring
lives of people with dwarfism
all across the globe. From hidden communities to outrageous
individuals, these new shows reveal what it’s really like to be a
little person in a big world, and
learn that sometimes the biggest
personalities come in the smallest packages.
Scooby Doo Mystery Incorporated
on Boomerang every Monday from
12 May at 18:40 CAT ( new episode)
Scooby Doo Mystery Incorporated (new episodes): Four
unique teens and their canine
mascot lives in a small town
called Crystal Cove. While solving mysteries, the team must
deal with a mysterious character named "Mr. E" who tells them
they have begun to uncover the
"truth of Crystal Cove" and the
case of the missing previous
Mystery Incorporated gang.
Mind Control Freaks on Discovery
Channel From Wednesday 14 May
at 21:00 CAT (Premiere)
Mind Control Freaks (Premiere): In this new show, a
range of experts use a selection
of clever psychological tricks
and mind manipulation on
unsuspecting members of the
public, getting them to do things
they never thought they could
or would. Revealing the malleability of the mind, each episode
shows how vulnerable humans
can be to those who know how
to manipulate them. Employing
a range of clearly-defined and
often recognised psychological
techniques, from hypnosis to
the Barnum effect, the show’s
experts reveal that no one is
completely in command of their
own mind.
Fashionable stars in football on
Trace Sport Stars Thursday 15 May
at 21:00 CAT
Fashionable stars in football:
Footballers are idolised across
the world for their skills and
style. On the field they’re magicians but off the field they’re
trendsetters and fashion icons
too, who are just as capable of
gracing the catwalk as they are
a football pitch. The show looks
at the biggest names to have
succeeded in drawing millionpound contracts with major
brands. Neymar’s baggy jeans
and backwards baseball caps,
Ashley Cole’s celebrity popstar
marriage, Andrea Pirlo’s rugged sophistication and Torres’s
wavy blond hair all feature. Not
to mention the Ronaldos, Henrys and Beckhams.
Oprah’s Next Chapter: Jamie Foxx
on TLC Entertainment On Thursday 08 May at 20:55 CAT and the
second part of this interview will
air on Thursday 15 May.
Oprah’s Next Chapter: Jamie
Foxx: Oprah sits down with Jamie Foxx for the most personal
and revealing one-on-one interview the actor, comedian,
musician and aspiring director
has ever done. Jamie opens up
about growing up in Terrell,
Texas, where he was raised by
his grandparents and trained in
classical piano. Plus, Jamie dis-

29

with a weekly creative challenge
to become the one that was Born
to Dance. Gibson unleashes her
hottest choreography and signature tough love to give the young
dancers the tools they need to
take their careers to the next
level and battle it out for the
number one spot. Boomkack!
Watch it on Saturdays at 12pm.

Tune in to 'Win, Lose or Draw' on Disney Channel

cusses his rise to stardom and
why he won't let fame go to his
head—again. He also dishes on
relationships and reveals why
he hasn't gotten married. On
Thursday 08 May at 20:55 CAT
and the second part of this interview will air on Thursday 15
May.
Almost Human on M-Net from
Friday 16 May at 20:30 CAT (Premiere)
Almost Human (Premiere):
The series takes place approximately 30 years in the future
following an unprecedented
increase in the crime rate, every police officer must partner
with a highly evolved humanlike android. It follows the weekto-week missions of Detective
John Kennex, the sole survivor
of a devastating police ambush, and his synthetic partner,
Dorian, as they solve cases and
fight to keep the lid on dangerously evolved criminals. From
Friday 16 May at 20:30 CAT.

and losses of four women from
very different walks of life, who
navigate relationships, family,
friends, careers and other universal issues with wit and insight. Strong performances and
refreshing, authentic scripting
make this series a rare comedy
gem. Winner of several BET
Comedy Awards and Image
Awards, and nominated for a
Primetime Emmy Award®.
Starts: Thursday, 15 May at
5:35pm.
SONY MAX (Channel 21)
• TATTOO NIGHTMARES (SEASON 2)
People choose to get tattoos
for various reasons – on impulse, as a romantic gesture,
to make a statement or for the
sheer thrill of living on the edge.
But sometimes those tats can go
horribly, horribly wrong. In this
series, we meet a selection of unfortunate souls who have wound

up on the wrong side of the tattoo gun – and have emerged with
permanent markings ranging
from the hilarious to the downright grotesque. But help is at
hand in the form of three of
the best cover-up artists in the
business – Tommy Helm, Big
Gus and Jasmine Rodriguez –
who try to work miracles to turn
victims’ inky disasters into masterpieces. It airs on Fridays at
8:00pm.
BET (Channel 22)
• BORN TO DANCE (Season 1)
If you missed a beat (or episode), tune-in for this series
marathon as Emmy Awardnominated choreographer and
creative director Laurieann
Gibson brings her signature
style and distinct dance moves
to BET! Follow the journey of 20
aspiring dancers in an intense
chance of a lifetime competition

Focus on Michael Jackson on Trace
Urban Saturday 17 May at 14:00
CAT
Focus on Michael Jackson:
Michael Jackson became a legend. Almost five years after his
death, an exclusive postumous
album is expected in may: “Xscape”. The teasing of the opus
had been watched more than
900 000 times on Youtube. Eight
exclusive song remixed by many
artists whom the producer and
rapper Timbaland are expected,
TRACE Urban pays tribute to
the king of pop with a selection
of his best videos.

DISNEY JUNIOR (Channel 60) GOtv Plus ONLY
SHERIFF CALLIE’S WILD WEST
(Premiere)
This rootin' tootin' new series is packed with stories and
songs set in the colourful Wild
West. Sheriff Callie is a lovable
cat with a magic noodle lasso
who keeps everything nice and
friendly in the frontier town of
Nice and Friendly Corners. She
is joined by trusty Deputy Peck,
an energetic woodpecker with
an overzealous desire to uphold
the law, and his best buddy Toby,
a cactus and perennial optimist
who sees the fun potential in everything. Sheriff Callie’s Wild
West premieres on Saturday 10
May at 8:40am.
CHANNEL O (Channel 70)
• VOLT
- Davido: He is the co-owner
of HKN Music, a record label
home to Sina Rambo, signing
multiple endorsement deals
with the biggest corporate
companies and supporting it
with some of Africa’s biggest
hits and featuring songs with
Africa’s biggest artists. A young
entertainer and business man
heading for greatness. Don't
miss Volt “DAVIDO”. Premieres
on 15 May 8:00pm.
- VIDEO WARS
It's an all-out video war and
the frontline heroes need your
support! In each round, four videos at a time are trying to win
the battle for TV domination
and you need to decide which
one sees action next! Send your
tweets and comment while
watching the Action to make
and be the difference!!!INTR-ODUCING on Monday to Thursday at 6:00pm.

GOtv
M-Net MOVIES ZONE (Channel 2) GOtv PLUS ONLY
• FATAL JUSTICE
A woman confronts a member of a robbery gang and kills
him in self-defence. The move
puts her on a collision course
with the other gang members.
Saturdays at 6:30pm.
SONY ENTERTAINMENT (CHANNEL 20) – GOtv PLUS ONLY
• GIRLFRIENDS (SEASON 1)
This highly acclaimed and
multi-awarded comedy series
draws us into the lives, loves

E! ENTERTAINMENT (Channel 25)
HELLO ROSS
Apart from being a popular
talk show host and best-selling
author, ‘Chelsea Lately’ star
Ross Mathews also prides himself on being the world’s biggest
superfan! Join him this month
as he brings his signature flair
and unique viewpoint back to E!
with a brand-new season. Ross
shares his love for all things pop
culture, continues to discuss the
most buzzworthy topics in Tinseltown, and hosts a series of exclusive and exciting interviews
with today’s hottest celebrities.
With a range of new segments
and a swanky new set, this season is set to be even better than
the first! Tune in on Saturdays
at 9:00pm.

Tune in to 'Oprah's Next
Chapter-Jamie Foxx' on
TLC Entertainment-1

MTV BASE (Channel 72) - GOtv
Plus ONLY
• MOST VOTED PLAYLIST : DRAKE
It’s quite simple: you vote for
your favourite artist songs and
we play them. Back to back music videos from MTV Base fans
will keep you tuned in. Cast
your vote for your favourite song
@MTVBaseAfrica and see if it
makes the playlist. On Wednesday 8 May at 2:00pm.

30 Entertainment TELEMOVIES

Friday, May 9, 2014

Coming Soon to the cinemas
Movie Schedule: Friday 9 May Thursday 15 May

WHAT'S NEWS
XLR8 grabs BAT PR
business
After months of suspense
and anxiety on agencies that
participated in the British America
Tobacco (BAT) public relations
business, XLR8, led by Calisthus
Okoruwa, has grabbed the multimillion naira business.

Benue partners
Mexican govt to boost
food production
The Benue State government has
fine-tuned an agreement with the
Mexican Government to boost food
production in the state.

}p-33

Irrigation farming as
solution to local rice
scarcity
A debate on rice production is on.
The debate centres around the
fact that in January this year, the
Federal Government increased tariff
on imported rice to 110 percent to
encourage local production.

}p-35

Non-remittance:
PenCom, PenOp move
against employers
To ensure employees registered
under the Contributory Pension
Scheme receive their contributions
at the end of their working life, the
Pension Fund Operators Association
of Nigeria has strengthened its
collaboration with the National
Pension Commission to identify
employers who fail to remit funds
deducted from their workers.

he expected cash transfer
from the current Pension
Fund Administrators to
the Nigeria Police Fund
Administrator is already
sending jitters down the
spines of PFA operators.
Although the National Pension Commission has allayed
the fears of contributors and
stakeholders, the operators
are, however, drawing inference from the impact the military pullout from the scheme
had on its operation.
In a statement to this effect,
the group warned that a sudden transfer of about N302
billion within a short period
would constitute a systemic
risk to the industry. The put
the potential loss of income
at about N5billion collectively
per annum, saying this would
invariably have attendant
knock-on effect on overall operations of existing PFAs in
varying degrees.
The statement said, “The issue of asset transfers should
be in an equitable manner
to neither favour the Police
PFA nor hurt the existing
RSA funds. This is so, given

Jonah Iboma

N

o fewer than 10 million
farmers have now been
captured in the database
of the Growth Enhancement
Support (GES) currently being
implemented by the Federal
Ministry of Agriculture and
Rural Development, (FMARD)
in conjunction with private
sector firms.
According to information
made available to New Telegraph by Cellulant Nigeria,
the technology partner of the
scheme, an increasing number
of farmers have been captured
in recent months following the
success of the scheme in 2012.
GES is a special scheme
introduced by the Federal

the large percentage of FGN
bonds in the RSA portfolios,
disposal of which (to fund
the Police PF A) will lead to
significant losses at this time.
We must also ensure transfers

of N302billion asset cash and
near cash to a single player
within a short period of time,
do not cause systemic risk for
the market. To prevent future
liability, some form of indem-

nity should be considered.”
In their appeal to the commission, they advised it should
consider the risks taken, efCONTINUED ON PAGE 32

10m farmers captured in
agric e-wallet scheme
Government under President
Goodluck Jonathan’s Agricultural Transformation Agenda
(ATA), which seeks to increase
farmers’ access to subsidised
farm inputs such as fertilisers
and improved seeds through
the private sector.
Bolaji Akinboro, Head, Nigeria Team GES (Cellulant),
who revealed this, confirmed
in a recent report by this
newspaper that the Federal
Government had approved
point of sale terminals (PoS)

to be deployed as additional
redemption channel under
the scheme to enable farmers
access fertilisers and other
farming subsidies.
He said that by the development, whenever farmers get
subsidised farm inputs, the details of the transaction could
now be stored in the PoS terminals and later transferred
to the central database of
the scheme managed by Cellulant Nigeria. In addition,
these terminals give the agro-

dealers the capacity to serve
as mobile-money agents and
enables farmers to enjoy various financial services.
The terminals, he explained, will provide very useful addition to the GES scheme
as they will help to quickly
capture data that could have
either been lost or that would
have taken a lot of time to reconcile.
Akinboro also revealed that
CONTINUED ON PAGE 32

igeria’s national telecom
operator, Globacom, said
its current network upgrade will result in 90 per cent
third generation (3G) coverage
across the nation and result in
subscribers getting the best
quality in both voice and data
services.
Head of Operations, Globacom, Mr. Bisi Koleosho, said
in a statement that by the time
the project is completed, Globacom would have completely swapped old components
on the network with state-ofthe-art network software and
hardware.
Expatiating on the expansion and modernisation
project, Koleosho said that
already, the swapping of cell
sites had been completed in
Abuja, Oyo, Osun, Ogun and
Akwa Ibom states. He added
that Port Harcourt, Rivers
State and several parts of Lagos including Lekki, Ikorodu,
Agbara and Otta had also undergone the upgrade with the
exercise almost completed in
Surulere and Ikeja. He added
that efforts have been intensified to cover the remaining
parts of the country.
He disclosed that the
project covers swapping, upgrade, and overhaul of network infrastructure, as well
as building of new switches
and construction of additional 4,000 km of optic fibre cable to complement the
company’s existing fibre optic facility, which is among
the most extensive private fibre networks in Africa. The
company’s existing 10,000km
optic fibre network is also being expanded with IP MPLS

and Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM)
network to provide capacity
and route protection. It will
also ensure constant connectivity.
The massive project, according to Koleosho, also
includes installation of new
base stations and densification of existing ones, setting
up of three new call centers
across the country to take
care of vast increase in subscriber figures and upgrade
of the radio access network
which will ensure that data
customers enjoy unparalleled speed and reliability.
He said that “Lagos is receiving special attention because of its peculiar status.
Glo’s microwave network in
the major commercial nerve
centre is getting transformed
into a full IP Network geared
up to meet future data requirements of the rapidly
expanding state.”
To enrich customer care
experience on the network,
new call centres are also being built in Abuja, Port Harcourt and Lekki, Lagos. Some
of these, according to him,
have been opened, while the
others are ready for commissioning. It is expected that
the new call centres will lead
to faster turnaround time
and greater customer care
experience for subscribers.
Leading telecom equipment vendors, Alcatel Lucent, Huawei, ZTE and Ericsson are the partners working
on the Glo network upgrade.
Some journalists used the
forum to extol the remarkable
stride Globacom is making to
further revolutionise the telecoms landscape in Nigeria.

Indian vessels queue
to lift Nigeria crude oil

N

igerian crude price differentials rose slightly on
Wednesday on strong Indian demand and relatively
cheap freight.
It was revealed that there
was long queue of Indian vessels on Nigeria waters waiting
to lift crude oil.
Indian Oil Corporation,
a regular buyer of Nigerian
crude, is also expected to release the results of its two-part
tender this week.

Traders said that relatively cheap freight to Europe,
at around $52.5 World Scale,
had also helped encourage demand in the past few trading
sessions.
But another trader said that
buyers appeared to be in no
rush to secure the remaining
20-30 Nigerian cargoes available.
“There’s no particular rush
for it to clear with dated Brent
Backward dated,” said one
West African trader.

fter months of suspense
and anxiety on agencies
that participated in the
British America Tobacco
(BAT) public relations business, XLR8, led by Calisthus
Okoruwa, has grabbed the
multi-million naira business.
Spokesperson for BAT, Soromidayo George and a senior
manager with XLR8, Okey
Nwachukwu, confirmed the
development in a telephone
chat with our correspondent.
Mediacraft & Associates
and Silver Bullet were some
A backward dated market means that future prices
are cheaper than spot prices,
meaning it is more favourable
for buyers to wait.
Shell said on Wednesday
that this grade was still under
force majeure, although loading appeared to be continuing
as normal.
According to Reuters, India’s
Hindustan Petroleum Corp has
bought a Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) of Qua Iboe in its
latest crude oil tender.
It was learnt that oil traded
at a premium of around $3.50 a
barrel to dated Brent, about 15
cents up from the last reported
level.

N302bn Police fund transfer: PFAs to lose N5bn
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 31

forts and hard work of shareholders and managements of
the existing PFAs in the registration, asset creation and
value addition made over the
last seven years. They added
that significant accumulated
losses running into several
hundred millions of naira
were incurred by most PFAs
in the course of the years.
The group said: “Some are
only just coming out of these
losses. Following the military

exit, the further loss of Police
assets totaling N302 billion
will have significant impact
and draw back on the PFAs.
Potential loss of income is
about N5billion per annum
collectively. This will invariably have attendant knock-on
effect on overall operations
of existing PFAs in varying
degrees.
“In order to have a fair outcome and ensure any future
such licensing requests are
mitigated, we believe the conditions should, while being

fair, be stringent. Based on the
foregoing, and in the interest
of equity and fair play in the
industry, we crave the indulgence of the Commission to
consider that the Police PFA
should be restricted to managing only pension contributions
from the Nigeria Police Force,
both now and in the future, orderly transfer within the PRA
and Guidelines issued by the
Commission, restriction to
enrolling new employees for
now, until the transfer window
is opened, among others.”

of the agencies that took part
in the pitch process. Indigo,
a relatively young PR agency,
was also said to have expressed
interest in the business, but
was not, however, invited for
the pitch.
When contacted, Managing
Director, Mediacraft & Associates, John Ehiguese, said that
winning and losing business
is one of those things in the
industry.
Until recently, The Quadrant Company held the account for seven years. Managing Director, The Quadrant
Company, Bolaji Okusaga, said
that his company was exiting
the business.
But the spokesperson for
BAT, Soromidayo George, said:
“It is a natural process for us
in BAT to continuously restructure or redefine the way
we work as the need dictates.
“Therefore, recently, we

took an in-house decision to
re-structure our way of working with PR agencies. This restructuring exercise means
that our contract with the current agency, Quadrant, will expire at the end of March 2014.
“The relationship remains
cordial. It is expected that
though the contract will expire, if the need arises, the
company may, from time to
time, call on Quadrant to work
with us.”
Industry experts however,
believe that should the account be split, a herculean
task awaits any agency or
agencies, that will eventually
manage the BAT business.
All over the world, there
has been condemnation of tobacco companies’ activities.
For instance, the Lagos State
government has just passed a
law to check public cigarette
smoking.

10m farmers captured in
agric e-wallet scheme
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 31

both banks and dealers would
be involved in the use of the
terminals and that many of
them have started work.
He said: “Three Nigerian
banks and two PoS terminal
providers are supporting the
deployment. GES e-wallet is
now evolving into the backbone of a payment system for
agriculture. Nigeria farmers
will be able to access various
financial services in addition
to the farm inputs they currently get through the scheme.
“These PoS terminals work
in an off-line mode and evacuate data back to the GES platform on periodic schedules.
The PoS are issued to agrodealers at no cost by commercial banks and the agro-dealers via Cellulant.
He said that the agro dealers are responsible for maintenance and safekeeping of
the terminals, adding that
they allow the GES scheme to
solve the problem of capturing
all categories of redemptions
(farmer with phone/farmer
without phone/no network) as
they are happening from the

side of the agro-dealer. The
agro-dealer, he explained, is
also used an additional source
of data into the platform via
the POS.
“This allows us to achieve
faster reconciliation and problem resolution as we can trace/
compare transactions from
farmer phone, register, RC&
SL form and now PoS data.
“The Nigerian Government
is now implementing what we
can refer to as fast-tracking
financial inclusion. These
PoS terminals also plug in
all agro-dealers into the electronic payment policy of the
Federal Government and also
used to lay the foundation of
electronic payments by farmers at the redemption centers.
“This will be possible in 2015
when we hope that the Nigeria
Agriculture Payment Initiative (NAPI) would have delivered a smart chip National ID
card through the Nigeria Identity Management Commission
(NIMC) that provides a bank
account in addition to the ewallet to every farmer through
the revalidation/e-registration
of every farmer in Nigeria,”
he stated.

he Benue State government has fine-tuned an
agreement with the Mexican Government to boost
food production in the state.
This partnership agreement
came just as the Governor Gabriel Suswam has concluded
plans for the launching of this
year’s fertilizer sales to farmers
to boost food production.
Already, the government of
Mexico has sent words to the

governor indicating readiness
to access the vast and fertile
agricultural landscape to commence plantain, rice and fruits
farming using the mechanised
approach.
Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources,
Mr. Donald Amokaha Gbugho,
who disclosed this to New Telegraph in an exclusive chat at
his Makurdi residence, said
that already enough land has
been acquired to that effect.

Gbugho stated that the state
government is ready to receive
the Mexican farm experts and
implored other foreign investors in the agricultural sector
to feel free to come and invest
in the state so that the state
sustains her status as the food
basket of the nation.
The Commissioner stated
that a piece of land measuring
30 hectares has been acquired
in Apa Local Government Area,
adding that others have been

acquired in Logo, Konshisha,
Otukpo and Makurdi local government areas respectively for
the exercise and has not been
encroached upon.
“There is an agreement between the Benue State government and that of Mexico and
a letter to that effect was sent
to Governor Suswam to come
to Mexico and see how agriculture is being practiced and how
they intend to replicate same
in Benue.
“Let me tell you that the
Mexican government has sent
her experts to the state to access the level of farming, and
I want to use this opportunity
to call on foreign investors to
come and teach our farmers as
a measure towards averting the
seeming impending food shortages,” the commissioner stated.
Gbugho said explained that
the planned launching of this
years sale of fertilizer had run
into a hitch because of security
challenges confronting the state,

but expressed optimism that the
exercise would take place before
the end of this week.
The Commissioner who
expressed concern over the
apathy of farmers to return
to their ancestral homes for
fear of reprisal attack, said the
state government is poised to
launch fertilizer and make it
available to farmers as well as
engage agriculture extension
workers to assist improve farm
yields, but lamented that "what
is disturbing to me and the generality of the people is how the
farmers can get these seedlings
because what they already have
has been destroyed, and if you
ask them to bring money to buy
the seedlings, where will they
get it?
He said efforts by the ministry of agriculture in the state
to get insurance firms compensate the farmers from the losses they incurred did not yield
positive results as the insurers
insisted on membership.

Commodities trade on different exchanges with different trading sessions. Change always shows from the
previous close price.
Quotes delayed, except where indicated otherwise. All prices in local currency. Time is ET. Source: Bloomberg

Farmers protest injustice.
They insist they wouldn’t
allow government take
over their farmland..
Taiwo Jimoh

M

oliki Farmers settlement
in Obafemi Owode Local
Government Area of
Ogun State have called on
Governor Ibikunle Amosu to
save them from the injustice
the director of Ogun, Osun
River Basin, Engineer Fakayode is subjecting them to
by planning to take over their
farmland from them.
The farmers said they have
been living on the farmland
since 1990 and doing their
farming work peacefully without clashes with other inhabitants of the area. The farmers
said the former director of the
river basin, Mr Sodeke, served
diligently in the area and related well with them adding that
since the arrival of engineer
Fakoyode as the new director
of the River Basin, things have
not been going on well in the
community.
The farmers who addressed
journalist at the farm settlement recently said they have
been doing their farming peace-

fully without problem with the
host community and the management of the Ogun Osun
River Basin before the arrival
of a new director, Mr Fakoyede.
The vice chairman of the
group Michael Akindele, said
“No stranger can come and take
away our livelihood from us,
because this is the only sources
of income we use in feeding our
family and relatives for the past
sixteen years.”
Akindele is therefore, urging
the authorities of the Ogun-Osun River Basin to caution the
man and warn him from taking
any action that may truncate the
peaceful atmosphere enjoyed at
the farm settlement before the
arrival of the new director.
Chief Olatunde Owolabi,
the head of the settlement and
also a member of the group
said, “Every year we pay N2500
into the coffers of the river basin authority and they issue us
receipts. Why are we paying
them when we are not getting
any value in return?
“We are law abiding citizens
of this great country.
To avoid a breakdown of law
and order, we have reported the
matter to the police. When we
noticed their antics, we went to
report the matter at Obafemi
Owode divisional Police station. We have also planned to
take our case to the office of the
Commissioner for Agriculture
in the state.”

34

BUSINESS | AGRIC

Sanctity of Truth

Friday, May 09, 2014

Why you need to
invest in coconut water

• A palm tree family product that can compete in the world's $10bn market
Siaka Momoh

T

he palm family has over
2500 species with sizes
from 12 inches to massive varieties which can
reach heights of 150 feet. The
vast majority of palm trees
grow naturally in tropical areas of the world, with more
than half of the known species coming from tropical
Asia. Nearly 1,000 species are
native to the American tropics, with lesser numbers of
species occurring on islands
in the Indian Ocean near Africa and in Africa itself. The
specie in question here is the
coconut tree from which we
can obtain coconut water and
coconut oil.
The palm, physically and
spiritually, is wealth. Every
part of the palm tree - stem,
branches, fruits and nuts, etc,
is money. The Holy Bible tells
you, “You will flourish like the
palm tree.”
According to Coconut Research Centre, the coconut
provides a nutritious source of
meat, juice, milk, and oil that
has fed and nourished populations around the world for generations. It states that in many
islands coconut is a staple in the
diet and provides the majority
of the food eaten and that nearly
one third of the world's population depends on coconut to some
degree for their food and their
economy. Among these cultures,
the coconut has a long and respected history.
Of concern to us today is coconut water, that water in coconut’s hollow space that is often
thrown away by consumers of
raw coconut.
Coconut water contains the
following among many other
attributes:
• Contains organic compounds possessing healthy
growth, promoting properties than have been known
to help;
• Keeps body cool at the proper temperature;
• Orally rehydrates your body,
it is an all natural isotonic
beverage;
• Raise metabolism;
• Promote weight loss;
• Cleanse digestive system;
• Detoxify and fights viruses;
• Control diabetes;
• Treat kidney and urethral
stones;
How do we bottle coconut
water for sale? The Food Agricultural Organisation (FAO)
has done some work on this as
follows:
A simple cold preservation
process keeps bottled coconut
water fresh for up to three
weeks.
The traditional method for
extracting coconut water is extremely simple: 1) climb a co-

Coconut

conut palm; 2) hack an immature coconut from the bunch;
3) trim off the husk and chop
a hole in the top; and 4) drink
the contents (steps 3 and 4 are
best done on terra firma).
Among people in tropical
countries with ready access
to coconut palms - or to fresh
coconuts sold by urban street
vendors - coconut water is
renowned as a refreshing,
highly nourishing drink with
a delicate aroma and flavour.
But, despite coconut water’s
potential as a competitor in
the bottled beverage market
(see box below), attempts to
capture those qualities in a
commercial product have been
largely unsuccessful.
Once exposed to air, coconut water begins to ferment,
and rapidly loses most of its
organoleptic and nutritional
characteristics. To eliminate
the risk of bacterial growth,
commercial bottlers are forced
to sterilize the product using

high-temperature/short-time
pasteurization (the same technology used in long-life milk),
which destroys some of coconut water's nutrients and almost all of the flavour.
Coconut "sports drink"
Coconut water could compete in the world’s US$10 billion market for “sports beverages.” Here’s why:

Now, after over five years
of research and testing, FAO
has announced a simple cold
preservation technology appropriate for small and medium-sized agro-industries that

The palm, physically
and spiritually, is
wealth. Every part of
the palm tree - stem,
branches, fruits and
nuts, etc, is money
allows them to produce bottled
coconut water which, under
refrigeration, stays fresh for
from 10 days to three weeks.
That is long enough to satisfy
domestic retail markets and
to allow export to developed
countries, where good quality
coconut water is in growing
demand. FAO is also finalizing
publications on a more technologically sophisticated microfiltration technique for cold
sterilization (details here), and
CONTINUED ON PAGE 35

Ghana’s cocoa farms under threat
SABOTAGE
Illegal miners are buying
off cocoa farmlands. It is
quick money for farmers
but threat to cocoa.

S

ome cocoa farmers in the
Upper Denkyira East District in the Central Region
are selling their farmlands
to illegal miners, popularly
known as ‘Galamsey’ operators, as a way to make ‘quick’
money. An acre is being bought
by the illegal miners for about
GH¢6,500 ($ 3347.500), accord-

ing to a bulletin from Cocoa
processors Association of Nigeria (COPAN).
The 2011 Best District
Farmer, Mr Isaac Boamah,
who made this known in an
interview at Dunkwa-on-Offin,
said once the illegal miners,
mostly Chinese, discovered
gold or any other mineral on
a farm, they approached the
owner and offered him or her
amount.
According to him, after the
purchase of the land, the illegal miners then cut down all
the cocoa trees and begin their
mining activities.
He described the situation
as unfortunate and said it was

killing the cocoa industry and
the future of the farmers involved.
Mr Boamah called on the
Minerals Commission to, as
a matter of urgency; check
the licences of the miners. He
also urged farmers to desist
from the practice, which he
described as “greed.”
The Upper Denkyira East
Municipal Chief Executive,
Mr Peter Owusu-Ashia Jnr,
confirmed the story and said
raids were usually organised
to drive away the galamsey
operators.
He said the approved pracCONTINUED ON PAGE 35

Hard
Facts

Nigeria spends N635 billion on
wheat importation annually, with
the United States of America as its
main supplier.
Nigeria’s local wheat production
will meet its total annual demand
of 3.7 million metric tonnes if its
600,000 hectares of land suitable
for wheat production is cultivated
by 2017
There are plans afoot to increase
wheat production by 150,000
hectares every year from 2013
to 2014 planting season. If this
is done, by 2017 Nigeria would
be able to cultivate the available
600,000 hectares of land in the
north with varieties that can produce 6 tonnes per hectare.
We have rain-fed wheat in Nigeria.
This rain-fed wheat is cultivated
in Nigerian highlands. These Nigerian highlands are in Mambilla Plateau in Taraba State, Jos
in Plateau State, and Obudu in
Cross River State. We have about
80,000 hectares of land in these
areas that are suitable for rain-fed
wheat production,
Usage of toxic chemicals is not
controlled in Nigeria and is entering the food chain.
Biomass that is produced in tropical and sub-tropical climates has
an average productivity that is
over five times higher than that
of biomass grown in the temperate regions of Europe and North
America.
Since developing countries are
located predominantly in the
warmer climates and lower latitudes, they have a considerable
comparative advantage.
Britain accounts for less than 4%
of Africa’s exports. That’s almost
three times less than China. Britain is worried about this and so
wants to do more to extend loan
guarantees and trade finance to
British companies that are looking
to do business in Africa because it
sees Africa in a new way, a different way - a place to invest its aid;
but above all a place to trade.
Nigeria is the UK’s 32nd largest
overseas market and 2nd largest African market for goods. UK
exports of goods to Nigeria were
worth £1,433 million in 2008 (up
42 per cent on 2007) and exports of
services were worth £1,279 million
in 2008 (up 46 per cent on 2007).
The main export opportunities for
the UK include oil and gas, agriculture, mining and mineral processing, power, and communications.
In recent years, Nigeria has witnessed a robust entry of Chinese
and South African businesses into
Nigeria. Chinese trade relations
and other business interests in
Nigeria, like in some other parts of
Africa, have shot up. The Chinese
trade in textiles, garments and a
long list of general goods.
They are in oil and gas and solid
mineral businesses. They are also
into road and rail construction
works.
According to World Bank Weekly
Report for July 7, 2008, Sino-African trade exploded from $2 billion in 1999 to $55.5 billion in 2006
and $73 billion in 2007, growing
faster than Chinese trade with
the rest of the world, and making a
significant contribution to China’s
success.

xxxx

business | AGRIC

Sanctity of Truth

Friday, May 09, 2014

35

Irrigation farming as solution to local rice scarcity
Nigeria has about
11 River Basin
Development
Authorities established
in 1976 by the Federal
Government to harness
the country’s water
resources and optimise
Nigeria’s agricultural
resources for food self
sufficiency, writes
But last year, in one
of such facilities set
with billions of naira,
farmers lost huge
amount of their yields
because there was no
meaningful rainfall
between July and
August reports
Adesola Momoh.

A

debate on rice production
is on. The debate centres
around the fact that in
January this year, the
Federal Government increased
tariff on imported rice to 110
percent to encourage local production. This reduced legal importation, but rice is no doubt
being smuggled into the country through the porous borders
with the Nigeria Customs Service officials still manning
the borders. Benin Republic
has increased its rice import
by about 400 percent, making
money at Nigeria’s expense
as most the rice imported into
that country gets smuggled
into Nigeria.
So, some stakeholders want
the tariff reviewed downwards. Farmers in Nigeria
of course do not want that.
With the backing of the able
minister of agriculture, local producers and processors
are doing their best to step
up domestic rice production,
adjudged to be healthier. But
majority of rice farmers, even

commercial ones still depend
on rain-fed rice farming. The
climate change resulting in
lack of rainfall when expected has been causing massive
losses to rice farmers. Also,
many rice farmers can only
plant once a year.
Therefore, irrigation, which
can provide all-year-round supply of water to crop, is the only
solution. Thailand and other
countries that export rice do
mainly irrigation farming
with the infrastructure provided by the government. Can
rice farming in Nigeria be developed with irrigation?
Abdul-Ganiyu Alabi-Ojolowo, producer and processor of
Oryza rice, says though more
irrigation infrastructure needs
to be established, even most of
the massive ones already established by the government in different parts of the country are
not functioning due to lack of
proper maintenance. Ojolowo
further says: “Hardly can private farm afford to set up the
infrastructure for irrigation.

No bank currently is ready to
finance that for any private
business. It is only the government that can set them up.
There are also issues of land
ownership and usage. If the
farmer does not own the land
or cannot guarantee its longterm availability for farming,
he would hesitate to invest in
irrigation infrastructure even
if he has the money. We have
more irrigation facilities in the
Northern part of the country
than the Southern part. Also,
the facilities would best be set
up on government land used by
large clusters of farmers.”
On cost estimates, he says
“An irrigation project for 200
hectares of land would cost
about N500 million to establish,
as the one recently established
by the Lagos State government
in Itoga. Another major challenge is that irrigation facilities run by the River Basin
Development Authorities are
under the ministry of water
resources and not the ministry
of agriculture.” Nigeria has
about 11 River Basin Develop-

ment Authorities established
in 1976 by the Federal Government to harness the country’s
water resources and optimise
Nigeria’s agricultural resources for food self sufficiency.
But last year, in one of such
facilities set up by the Federal
Government in Ogun State
with billions of naira, farmers
lost huge amount of their yields
because there was no meaningful rainfall between July and
August. The irrigation facilities were functional but there
was disagreement between two
departments in the ministry
of water resources as to which
department should control the
usage of the facilities.
These River Basins were set
up with the plan of handling
over their operations to the
network of farmers using the
land. This has not been implemented even 30 years after establishment. This may not be
unrelated to the fact that allocations are provided by the
Federal Government for the
running of these River Basin
Development Authorities.

Ghana’s cocoa farms under threat
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 34

tice was for prospective miners to consult the Minerals
Commission to find out if the
lands they were interested in
could be used for mining.
He explained that those
who went through the right
processes were made to pay,
among other things, crops
compensation and goodwill
fees, as well as execute a development project for the community in which they operated as
part of their corporate social
responsibility.
According to Mr OwusuAshia, the assembly’s bye-laws
provided that licensed miners

Wheat farm

display their documents and
licences at their sites in
order to distinguish them
from the illegal ones in case
of unannounced raids by the
security agencies.
He said some of the illegal
miners operated at night and
called on the task force and
other security agencies to embark on night patrols in
order to arrest them.
He urged the Minerals Commission to check and control
the number of miners who
were given permits to operate
in an area and advised farmers
and chiefs in the area to desist
from selling their lands to illegal miners.

a low-tech system that can be
used by street vendors.
Training guide
The mid-range technology,
developed in Jamaica in collaboration with the University of the
West Indies, the Coconut Industries Board and the Scientific
Research Council, is described
in a FAO training guide, Good
practices for the production of
bottled coconut water, published
in English, French and Spanish
early in 2007. Says Rosa Rolle, an
FAO food biochemist who coordinated development of the process: "While microfiltration can
guarantee a commercially sterile product, it requires skills and
investments that are often beyond the capacity of small and
medium-scale processors. What
we aimed for was a technology
that is easier to implement and
costs less, but ensures good quality and reasonable shelf-life in a

convenient format that satisfies
consumer demand for a ‘natural
product.’
The starting point
FAO-funded research indicates that coconut water of good
drinking quality is clear and colourless, with pH of 5 to 5.4 and
a Brix level (a measurement of
sugar concentration) of 5 to 6.5.
Per millilitre, it should have a
total microbiological count
of less than 5,000, less than 10
of coliform bacteria, and zero
faecal coliform. For small-scale
processors without access to a
laboratory for microbiological
testing, the manual recommends some simple measures,
such as checking the product
for traces of fermentation or
foreign objects, and giving it
a "nose test" - a rancid odour,
for example, indicates that the
small quantity of fats in the liquid have oxidised.
The guide points out that
“coconuts are living material,”

and continue to breathe after
harvest: “The higher the temperature of a coconut at harvest,
the more rapidly will it respire
in the post-harvest phase and
the more rapidly will its constituents undergo physiological
changes, leading to deterioration." A range of other factors
can negatively affect the quality
of coconut water. During production, they include contamination by pesticides residues,
and heavy metals entering the
fruit through soil or water. Postharvest, micro-organisms can
be introduced through improper
handling and processing, leading to rapid fermentation.
Rapid cooling
Now comes the easy part:
extracting the precious liquid.
That is done by first trimming
the husk with a sanitized stainless steel cutlass, then opening
the shell. The water inside is
decanted into a sanitized container equipped with a strain-

er lined with a sanitized silk
screen or cotton cloth. The filtered water should be promptly
transferred to a cooling tank
and cooled to 4°C, or placed in a
freezer for three to four hours.
Where large volumes of coconut water are to be bottled, the
use of a refrigerated cooling
tank for rapid cooling is highly
recommended. Waste material mainly husks - must be removed
from the processing environment and promptly disposed of.
The water must be quickly
bottled and sealed - in bottles
that have been rinsed in potable water and sanitised for
15 minutes - then stored in a
chiller at 4°C. The bottling
facility needs to be clean and
“free of animals, insects, dust
or garbage,” and physically
separate from area where the
coconuts are cut open.
“Bacteria and yeasts are the
main micro-organisms that
threaten freshly bottled coconut water," the FAO guide says.

It is critical, therefore, that the
temperature of the bottled water be kept at between 0 and
4°C during transportation in
order to preserve quality and
to prolong shelf-life. Finally,
the manual advises, processors need to make sure that
their product is handled with
care after delivery: “Monitor
retail outlets to ensure that the
bottled coconut water is stored
at the correct temperature and
away from direct light.”
Processing technology
Designed in collaboration
with the Philippines’ Industrial Technology Development
Institute, the unit is insulated
with a mixture of ice and salt,
which cools freshly collected
coconut water to below 4°C.
Instead of hauling coconuts
from rural areas into cities,
vendors can collect the water
“at source,” reducing both
their transport costs and the
quantity of urban garbage.

36

BUSINESS | AGRIC

Sanctity of Truth

Friday, May 09, 2014

How Stallion Group is faring with local rice production
Stallion owns and
operates the country’s
largest integrated rice
milling facility and
has formed Popular
Progressive Farmers
Association that is
working tirelessly to
improve farm yields
and bring in sustainable
and scalable growth to
farmers.

R

ice is cultivated in all of
Nigeria’s agro-ecological
zones, from mangroves to
the swamp ecologies of the
Niger Delta to the dry zones Sahel in the north. Nigeria is producing paddy mainly in rainy
season with renewed focus and
energy is expanding quantities
during dry season. Formerly
most of the produce used to get
consumed at subsistence levels.
However, with the current impetus provided by the Ministry
of Agriculture, large-scale private sector investments have
fuelled growth in local production at commercial levels. For
instance, Stallion Group, a local
multi business conglomerate
has made rapid strides in the
development of a fully integrated rice value chain in the country. The initiatives in this sector
complement the group’s stated
vision in developing large scale
local industries in Nigeria.
Stallion owns and operates
the country’s largest integrated rice milling facility and has
formed Popular Progressive
Farmers Association that is
working tirelessly to improve
farm yields and bring in sustainable and scalable growth to
farmers. The Group has fully
backward integrated its rice
value chain viz. production,
procurement through collection center, association with
co-operatives and farmers, logistic and post-harvest services,
marketing and acting as a catalyst toward sustainable growth.
It is doing this with the efforts
of Popular Progressive Farmers Association that is working
closely with co-operative farmer
association to convert subsistence farming into commercial
farming by providing technical
inputs in respect of land preparation, crop care, weed management, moisture management
and post-harvest care.
Popular Farms is also assisting in improving storage
methods resulting in acceptable
levels of moisture in the paddy
which in turn results in higher
milling recovery. Stallion’s foray
into agribusiness started way
back during 2007. Under the
guidelines of the Federal Government’s Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) and
with the assistance of a team
of agricultural experts from
around the world, they started
deliberating on various Agricultural Extension & Training Programmes amongst the farmers

Farmers at work in a rice farm

Rice farm

groups and at strategically located rice farms. The company
has started its commercial production of Made-in-Nigeria rice
from locally procured paddy by
putting a state of the art rice
milling facility in Kano.
The company is now operating a fully integrated state of the
art rice mill in the country with
an aggregate capacity of 360,000
metric tonnes per annum and
is producing a premium variety
of rice from local paddy being
marketed by the company under the names “Royal Stallion
Shinkafa” and “Super Champion’’ which are now the most
popular locally produced Madein -Nigeria brands of rice.
Stallion’s entire focus is to
strengthen the local farming
community and their knowhow
of rice farming so as to bring
in the Rice Revolution into the
country. It is a multi-levelled
approach not only to increase
the area under cultivation but
also to transform the rice farming and rice business sector
through the quality produce
and farm productivity.
Stallion is implementing a
comprehensive strategy to positively impact a vast geographical area under rice farming and
thousands of progressive farmers are being targeted under the
initiative to Popular Progressive Farmers Association.
As a pioneer in the rice value
chain, the deteriorating plight
of the Nigerian farmer and the

Under its Rice
Backwards
Integration Scheme,
Stallion now has
a direct approach
to more than
5,000 farmers and
almost 20 various
cooperatives
impending threat of global competition have been the concerns
for the company. This concern is
not driven only by a sense of social responsibility, but Stallion
also recognises that the company’s fortunes are strongly tied
to the well-being of the farmer.
To better the farmer compensation requires providing
the farmer with the know-how
and resources to raise production and supply better quality
inputs and access to markets.
Stallion effectively uses its
expertise and technology and
it believes in the capacity to
bring the power of scale to the
farmer. The company’s vision
is to preserve and enrich the
rice production in Nigeria by
ensuring genetic integrity of
the seed, encouraging farmers
to adopt scientific agricultural
practices and leveraging world-

class rice processing technologies and emerge as the industry
benchmark for product quality
and customer service.
The company over the past
several years has been actively
involved in various programmes
viz. out growers and crop health
programme, seminar cum technical sessions, demonstration
through extension, rural youth,
paddy quality awareness, farmers’ cooperatives training programmes, and distribution of extension materials like technical
bulletin, leaflets and video CDs,
model farm demonstrations under its CSR activities.
Currently, the company has a
dedicated team of agric professionals spread across various
centers and regional agric offices. The company has extended
these activities in various states
of Nigeria with the objective
of increasing the area under
rice cultivation, increasing the
production per unit area by introducing “Low Cost No Cost
Technology” to the farmers. Simultaneously, the company assures consistent supply of certified quality seeds under Seed
Multiplication Programmes in
various rice producing states.
As a part of these initiatives,
the company is also extending
assured buy-back of harvested
paddy from the farmers for its
processing facilities.
Under their flagship Out
Growers Scheme, the organisation has devised and demonstrat-

ed focused approach which is to
make the rice farming more productive and sustainable, scale up
the out growers farming / communities on a sustainable basis,
bring in latest and modern rice
farming techniques on the farm,
assist farmers with farming inputs availability, advising on
dry season irrigation management, developing the farmers
group/farmers communities
in terms of farming knowledge
and self sufficiency for higher
farm production and increased
per unit earnings and to provide
buy-back mechanism to the rice
produce on fair and prevailing
market prices.
The company has established several collection centers spread across rice producing states of Adamawa,
Taraba, Benue, Niger, Jigawa,
Sokoto and Kano which not
only assist farmers in understanding modern rice farming
techniques but also focuses on
forming associations with various farmers’ cooperatives and
progressive farmers to lead the
Nigerian rice revolution.
Fertilizer distribution
Under its Rice Backwards Integration Scheme, Stallion now
has a direct approach to more
than 5,000 farmers and almost
20 various cooperatives, which
ensure that farmers become
scalable into their approach and
farm income becomes lucrative.
Understanding the local irrigation system and source of
irrigation and further scaling
up this has been a crucial part
of farmers’ success. Dry rice
farming with sustainable rice
productivity has been the key
factor where the company’s efforts have been yielding good results. Stallion has been pioneering in providing easy and quality
inputs through its Centers.
Farm fertilizers, certified
seeds, modern farming bulletins have been distributed
amongst thousands of farmers.
Their on-farm demonstrations
on modern rice farming techniques have been a successful
endeavour which started giving
a positive results and increased
productivity up to additional 50
per cent rice farm productivity
have been reported.

he serene atmosphere that had
pervaded the almost nine-year operation of the Contributory Pension
Scheme is beginning to experience
some air of uncertainty due to recent
clearance of the Nigeria Police Force
by the National Pension Commission to
operate under an independent pension
fund administrator.
Although the commission has reassured contributors and stakeholders
that there is nothing to worry about, feelers from the industry, especially among
the PFAs, present an ominous picture
of the situation.
In a response to the report regarding
the threat to the pension assets, PenCom
said that the issue of threat did not arise
under the CPS because the management
and custody of pension assets were respectively undertaken by separate licensed operators, namely the Pension
Fund Administrators (PFAs) and Pension Fund Custodians (PFCs), under the
strict supervision of the Commission.
The Commission, through the Head,
Communications, Mr. Emeka Onuora,
said that the NPF Pensions Limited,
which was recently granted an approval-in-principle, would operate like any
other licensed PFA where the pension
assets under it would be held in custody
by licensed PFCs under the supervision
of the Commission.
The Commission pointed out that the
Federal Government had never granted
any approval to the Nigeria Police to
pull out from the Contributory Pension
Scheme, stressing that the personnel of
the Nigeria Police Force were still under the Contributory Pension Scheme
by virtue of Section 1 of the Pension
Reform Act 2004.
According to PenCom, the Whitepaper recently issued by the Federal Government on the Report of the Orasanye
Committee on the Rationalisation of
Federal Government Institutions clearly
indicated that the Federal Government
has accepted the recommendation that,
with the exception of the Military which
has already been granted exemption,
no Federal Government Institution or
Force should be exempted from the Contributory Pension Scheme.
The statement emphasised that “following the enactment of the Pension
Reform (Amendment) Act 2011, which
exempted the personnel of the military and State Security Services from
the CPS, the Nigeria Police and other
agencies agitated for exemption from
the scheme. However, the Federal Government decided after careful consideration of the submission made by the
Nigeria Police that the Police personnel
should remain under the Contributory
Pension Scheme and that the Nigeria
Police Force should seek administrative
solutions to the grievances of its personnel within the framework of the scheme.
“Accordingly, after extensive consultations with the Commission, the authorities of the Nigeria Police Force decided

A gathering of policemen, Inset: Inspector-General of Police. Mohammed Abubakar

to incorporate a limited liability company
(NPF Pensions Limited) and apply to the
Commission for licence to operate as a
Pension Fund Administrator exclusively
for the Nigeria Police personnel in order
to address their peculiar concerns. Following a rigorous and thorough review
of that application, the NPF Pensions
Limited was found to have satisfied all
the normal stringent approval-in-principle conditions without any concessions.
Consequently, the Commission granted
the NPF Pensions Limited an A-I-P for a
licence to operate as a PFA.
“It is pertinent to note that the NPF
Pensions Limited, which is incorporated
as a Private Limited Liability Company,
will be managed independently by professionals who must satisfy the fit and
proper persons due diligence requirements and approved by the Commission
in line with the guidelines for appointment to board and top management positions of PFAs and PFCs.
“Furthermore, although the NPF Pensions Limited will be exclusively for police personnel, every police officer will,
in line with section 11(2) of the PRA 2004,
be at liberty to transfer to another PFA
of his/her choice as soon as the transfer
window is opened by the Commission.”
The Commission further hinted that
in order to achieve a smooth take-off
of the NPF Pensions Limited, the Commission had developed an Operational
Framework that would guide the reassignment of Personal Identification
Numbers (PINs) and transfer of records
of all Nigeria Police contributors to the
NPF Pensions Limited, which would be
spread over an 18 month period.
“Accordingly, in its usual consultative
approach, the Commission has engaged
and would continue to engage other licensed operators and stakeholders regarding the modalities of reassignment

of PINs and transfer of records of officers and men of the Nigeria Police, with
a view to ensuring a smooth exercise for
the benefit of the pension industry,” the
statement added.
However, despite what appears to be
a water tight assurance on the part of
the Commission, concerned stakeholders appear to believe that the situation
is far more than what the regulator is
trying to make the public believe. They
are of the opinion that even though the
likely pull out of the police from the
scheme would not directly affect the N4
trillion assets being held in custody for
the contributors, the movement or transfer of cash already under the control of
the existing PFAs would definitely impact on the business plans of the fund
administrators.
They are of the opinion that the regulator should consider the risks taken,
effort, hard work of shareholders and
managements of PFAs in the registration, asset creation and value addition
made over the last seven years.
The statement said: “Significant accumulated losses running into several
hundred millions of naira were incurred
by most PFAs in the course of the years.
Indeed, some are only just coming out of
these losses. Following the military exit,

Following the military exit,
the further loss of Police
assets totaling N302
billion will have significant
impact and draw-back on
the PFAs

DG, PenCom, Chinelo Ahonu Amazu

the further loss of Police assets totaling
N302 billion will have significant impact
and draw back on the PFAs. Potential
loss of income is about N5 billion per
annum collectively.
“This will invariably have attendant
knock-on effect on overall operations of
existing PFAs to varying degrees.
In order to have a fair outcome and ensure any future such licensing requests
are mitigated, we believe the conditions
should, while being fair, be stringent.”
The stakeholders, in the interest of equity and fair play in the industry, craved
the indulgence of the Commission to
consider restricting the Police PFA to
managing only pension contributions
from the Nigeria Police Force, both now
and in the future.
It also suggested that for an orderly
transfer within the Pension Reform Acts
and Guidelines issued by the Commission, the police should be restricted to
enrolling new employees for now, until
the transfer window is opened, at which
point officers and men could choose to
move or compensation be given by the
Police PFA to existing PFAs in the form
of asset purchase as in the case of operator buy-outs.
On the issue of asset transfers, the
stakeholders also suggested that the process should be arranged in an equitable
manner to neither favour the Police PFA
nor the existing Retirement Saving Account funds.
According to them, “the large percentage of FGN bonds in the RSA portfolios'
disposal will lead to significant losses
at this time. We must also ensure that
the transfer of N302 billion asset cash
and near cash to a single player within a
short period of time do not cause systemic risk for the market. To prevent future
liability, some form of indemnity should
be considered.”

38

BUSINESS | PENSION

CONTRIBUTIONS
Failure of business
owners to remit deducted
pensions to PFAs worries
regulators

T

o ensure employees registered under the Contributory Pension Scheme receive their contributions
at the end of their working
life, the Pension Fund Operators Association of Nigeria
has strengthened its collaboration with the National Pension Commission to identify
employers who fail to remit
funds deducted from their
workers.
Disclosing this in Lagos, the
Executive Secretary PenOp,
Ms. Susan Oranye, said both
parties were working hard to
tackle the challenge on non-re-

Non-remittance: PenCom, PenOp
move against employers
mittance by some employers.
According to the PRA 2004,
any employer that fails to remit pension contributions into
the employees Retirement Savings Account (RSA) within 7
days after payment of the staff
salary would be required to remit the pension contribution
plus penalty at not less than
two per cent of the total contributions that remains unpaid
for each month the default continues as provided in Section
11 (7) of the PRA, 2004.
Since inception, the Commission has identified and assigned over 15,000 employers
to Recovery Agents to review

CPS: Confab delegate demands
increase in contribution

I

n order to motivate workers so
as to give their best while still on
duty, a delegate at the ongoing
National Conference, Mr. Paul
Enebeli, has advised employers
to make good use of the opportunities provided through the
Contributory Pension Scheme
by increasing the percentage
contribution to the funds.
He described the CPS as
an important tool to motivate
employees, stressing that the
Federal Government could also
take advantage of the scheme
to get more commitment from
civil servants.
He said that nothing would
ginger employees’ morale more
than the fact that their employers had arrangement for a secured financial future for them.
In the same vein, the Managing Director, Stanbic IBTC
Pension Managers, Demola
Sogunle, said that the scheme
remains one of the best things
put in place for the well-being
of workers.
He said that the scheme has

helped to provide a secured future for workers at retirement,
adding that workers need not
to adjust their age any more as
there is something to sustain
their lifestyle at retirement.
Sogunle called on workers to
demand compliance from their
employers as their future is
determined by what they contribute.
He said: “Those who are
presently contributing are in
good companies, their future is
assured, and some people are
working on their behalf to ensure that when they stop receiving salary, they can maintain
their living standard.
“It is because of the contributors we do investment strategies, work hard daily, so that
they can have something to fall
on when they stops working. It
is when people stop working
they become more vulnerable
and that is when we come in.
Contributors should be rest assured, for they have nothing
to fear.”

Firefighters' row over
pensions continue

F

irefighters in England and
Wales staged a third consecutive day of strike over
pensions with no sign of a
breakthrough.
Members of the Fire Brigades Union protested over
government plans to raise
pension contributions and the
retirement age.
The government said that
a deal on offer was "one of the
most generous pension schemes
in all the public sector."
In Scotland, there is a ban
on voluntary overtime until
May 9.
A spokesman for the FBU,
which says about 85-90 per
cent of UK firefighters are
members, estimated that
35,000-40,000 were on strike
on Sunday.
On-call firefighters usually
based in rural areas and contractors were hired as part of
fire authorities' attempts to ensure cover for those on strike.
The union is angry that
firefighters face paying higher

Sanctity of Truth

Friday, May 9, 2014

pension contributions, working into their late 50s before
retiring and could be sacked
because their fitness declines
as they get older.
General secretary, Matt
Wrack, said it was time for the
government's "games" to stop
and common sense to prevail.
It was disappointing firefighters had been "forced" to
carry out the last three days
of strikes.
A Communities and local
government spokesman said
pension proposals protected
the rights of a higher proportion of members than any
other public sector scheme,
and that nearly three-quarters
would see no change in their
pension age in 2015.
On Saturday, the department denied FBU claims that
government had drawn up
alternative proposals "that
might point the way towards
a solution" six weeks ago but
had been "sitting on" them
ever since.

their records and recover any
outstanding pension contributions plus penalty. To minimise defaults, the Commission
also deployed an application
(Risk Management Analysis
system) for monitoring remittance of pension contributions
of employees. The said application identifies employers
that default in remittance of
pension contributions of their
employees.
As at February this year,
it had also taken legal action
against 50 employers, out of
which judgment has been
entered in favour of the Commission with respect to 16
employers. Another set of 30
employers are also being prepared for prosecution.
Oranye said that apart from
the fact that PenCom had
come up with the names of
defaulters and also following

them up, the fund administrators had been having seminars
and interactive sessions with
employers to find out why
they are not remitting contributions.
She said: “We have been
educating them on the need
to understand that the fund is
for their employees and that
they should also consider the
system as a corporate social
responsibility which helps in
boosting the morale of workers.
“When employers provide
secured future for their employees through pension, they
would be happy to give their
best, which will raise the bottom-line of employers. This
event provides an opportunity
for us to introduce workers to
the pension fund administrators. Workers in public and
private sectors should comply

with this scheme which is one
of the best means to secure the
future of workers.”
She also advised workers to
leverage on the Contributory
Pension Scheme (CPS) to secure their future, saying that
the scheme remained one of
the best things to have happened in the country in recent
years.
According to her, the
scheme was introduced to
eradicate the ugly sights
where workers queue, cry and
beg for their pension. The new
scheme is transparent, fully
funded, safe and should be
embraced by every worker.
She said: “PenOp is here
to honour and support Nigerian workers. The underlying
concern for all pension fund
administrators is to prepare
workers for when they would
not be able to work again.

L-R: Head, Human Resource and Admin, Mouka Limited, Mr. Boniface Nwabuko, one of the winners of 1 million naira in the
Mouka Sleep Like a Millionaire Promo, Olubajo Olasunkami; Mouka Distributor and Managing Director, FAAKS Enterprises,
Mrs. Olajumoke Akinbule-Alabi and National Business Manager, Mouka Limited, Mr.Olufemi Asa, at the prize presentation
and 2nd raffle draw for the Mouka Sleep Like a Millionaire Promo held at Mouka Office, Lagos.

L&G brushes off fears of hit
from UK pension reform
B
ritish insurer, Legal &
General, saw net cash rise
by over a fifth in the first
quarter of 2014 on demand for
its retirement products - easing fears the company would
be hit by reforms to the United
Kingdom pensions system.
The reforms, due to be
implemented next April, effectively scrap a system that
forced most retirees to swap
their pension savings for an
annuity that pays out an income for life. Instead, they get a
choice on how they invest.
That had raised fears that insurers such as L&G that sell the
products would suffer by losing
one of their most lucrative business lines.
But in a trading statement on
Wednesday, the company said its
sales of bulk annuities to company pension schemes, which
are not affected by the reforms,
were easily offsetting a decline
in sales of the products to individuals.

The group's Retirement arm
saw new business premiums
quadruple to 3.3 billion pounds
following the signing of a three
billion-pound bulk annuity contract with the ICI pension fund
in March.
L&G's individual annuity
sales dropped 40 per cent in the
quarter. Cancellations of newly
bought annuities after the UK
government announced the
reforms in March had a 15 million- pound impact, the company said.
Net cash in the quarter was up
21 per cent to 301 million pounds
($511.47 million). Operational
cash generation rose six per cent
to 297 million pounds, which the
company attributed to demand
for its pension products.
L&G said it supports the
reforms as part of a "clear prochoice, pro-consumer agenda to
modernise pensions". The company said it stood to benefit even
though individual annuity sales
would suffer, because other busi-

nesses such as fund management should gain by offering
an alternative use of pensions
savings.
Its fund management business, Legal & General Investment Management, saw net
flows of new money from clients
reach 3.8 billion pounds in the
quarter, to bring assets to 463
billion pounds.
"We already benefit from favourable demographic trends;
we have economically and socially useful products for customers... We are excited about
the prospects for our business,"
said Chief Executive Nigel Wilson.
L&G shares were trading
more than two per cent higher
on Wednesday morning after
the earnings statement, which
Shore Capital's Eamonn Flanagan called "a robust rebuttal
to those who feared for the
group's future following the
Budget changes to the annuity market."

CRIME

39

NEW TELEGRAPH

newtelegraphonline.com/entrepreneur

JULIANA FRANCIS
juliana.francis@newtelegraphonline.com

FRIDAY, MAY 9, 2014

‘Boko Haram is war against
Nigerians, not Christians’
Agba Nchor is a retired Assistant Commissioner of Police
(ACP). Before he took a bow and left the stage of active
police work, he was instrumental in routing drug couriers
from the dreaded Kuwait zone at the Gowon Estate area
of Egbeda, Lagos State, which served as home for drug
traffickers, addicts and suspected robbers. In this chat
with JULIANA FRANCIS, Nchor expresses fears over
the continual bloodletting in the country, stressing that
Nigeria is at war. He says that if Jonathan bows to pressure
and does not contest; another orgy of bloodbath may be
unleashed by the Niger Delta people, who see him as their
‘brother.’ Excerpts;
What’s your reaction about the Chibok
abducted girls?
The abduction of those girls is political
arrangement! During political campaign
in 2011, some political opponents said
they would make the country ungovernable and immediately they said this, Boko
Haram surfaced. Today, they’re terrorising
the country based on what they said. Some
of us believe that it’s an arrangement. If
it’s not an arrangement, how do you explain the fact that what the politicians
threatened, is now happening? It means
they know that Boko Haram existed even
then.
Do you believe that Boko Haram is waging a
war against Christians?
I don’t believe that Boko Haram is waging a war against Christians anymore. You
can see now that they attack churches and
mosques, in fact everybody! Generally,
they just want to destabilise the country.
Do you see Nigeria breaking as the solution to
the insurgency in the country?
For the country to break up is not the
solution to the present problem. We’ve
come a long way. 100 years! There’re people
who have properties in different parts of
the country and you’re talking about us
breaking up. So many other people have
intermarried and are still intermarrying.
What we should do, is for our leaders to
meet these Boko Haram members and dialogue with them. This perhaps will help in
checking the Boko Haram problem.
Would you say that Nigeria is at war presently?
Just looking at the security situation in

the country, shows that Nigeria is at war!
Boko Haram members are armed to the
teeth with all sort of sophisticated weapons and magazines wrapped around them.
They attack with seven, nine and 10 vehicles. Look at the numbers of people they
had killed so far. Such a number might not
even be killed in a war with another country. Yes, we’re at war! We’ve fought civil
war in this country and we know when enemy forces attacked. But this war is without notification. People would be sleeping
and they would go there and burn down Nchor
the homes, with the occupants inside. Both
Christians and Muslims are affected.
ger Republic and Mali, so police can’t fight
this war! We’re in war! Police are trained
for counter-terrorism, while military are
As ex-policeman, how do you feel seeing soldiers at the forefront of the fight against Boko trained to enforce national security and
Haram, when it was policemen before?
international aggression.
You heard what I said. This is war! Who
are those that are supposed to fight war? What’s the way out of the raging storm in the
It’s the soldiers! What we’ve heard so far, country?
The way forward, is for all the leaders
is that most of the key leaders in Boko Haram are not Nigerians, but people from in the northern states; the political and
other countries. We heard they’re from Ni- eminent leaders and all those involved in

CRIME QUOTE
‘If this happened anywhere
else in the world, more
than 200 girls kidnapped
and no information for
more than two weeks,
the country would be
brought to a standstill.”
– Obiageli Ezekwesili

this Boko Haram war, to come together,
dialogue and find a solution to this menace
with the government. With dialogue, the
issue of Boko Haram will cease!
Do you think the confab will be able to take
care of the issue of Boko Haram?
The convener of the confab had good
intention, but the members of the confab are creating problems in that place! I
don’t think they are working towards the
idea and ideals which the convener earlier planned. The convener of the confab
knew what he planned and wanted. But
the argument going on in the subcommittees shows that they’re not serious. I don’t
think they’re going to achieve anything
good there for Nigerians.
Would you then describe the confab as a
waste of money?
It’s a waste of money and time! Let me
however not conclude yet, since I don’t
know what they’ll write in their reports.
But from the debates we’ve been seeing on
CONTINUED ON PAGE 40

40 CRIME

Sanctity of Truth

Friday, May 9, 2014

‘Jonathan has done more than Nigerians give him credit for’
doing his best with the small resources
he has. If you get to Cross River, you’ll
know the governor is working. Check
out Lagos State, where they have billions
of naira, can’t you see that in ordinary
Ejigbo Local Government, nothing is
working there? At Cross River, in every
local government, the roads are tarred.

CON TINUED FR O M PAGE 39

television and in the National Dallies,
they don’t have anything good to offer
Nigerians.
Some people have argued that the insurgency will stop once President Jonathan
halts his ‘second or third term’ shot at the
presidency seat. What do you say to that?
Merely judging from what is going on
in the country, you’ll see that would be
the solution. But you can’t force Jonathan to stop his bid for the seat of presidency. He should be allowed, just like
any other citizen of Nigeria to contest
for any position. This matter had been
dragged to the court, and a court says he
was qualified to contest. The constitution allows him to contest. He had only
enjoyed his first term. The other term
they’re talking about, is not his term.
He spent two years for the late President Yardua, so people shouldn’t count
it for him. He’s not God and didn’t say
Yardua should die! He didn’t pray for
it and since it happened, it became his
luck. They should allow him to go for
his second term.
If he’s not allowed to go for second
term, there might be problem. Another
group will come up, to begin to foment
trouble, making the country also ungovernable for any other person or president. They’ll say: ‘when our brother was
in government, you people didn’t give
him peace and chance to rule.’ I foresee
such happening. Boko Haram doesn’t
want any other ethnic person to rule Nigeria, so how can they too rule in peace?
Are you insinuating that Niger Delta people
will not give peace a chance, since ‘their
brother,’ President Jonathan, was not given
such a chance?
Exactly! They too would also cause
trouble. Since Jonathan came on board,

Nigerians protesting the abduction of school girls in Chibok

there has been stability in the production of crude oil. There has also been
increase in the production of crude oil,
from the Niger Delta region. He may
have done more, if he had been allowed.
Do you think CCTV will help in the fight
against terrorism in the country?
It has been done in other parts of
the world and its working. They should
implement it in Nigeria. But I still insist on dialogue being the solution to
Boko Haram insurgency. Boko Haram
knows why they’re terrorising Nigeria
and Nigerians. They have an agenda. Or
how would you explain the coming of
Boko Haram at this time, when Nigeria
is trying to sustain peace in its nascent
democracy? They’re destabilising us by
bombing everywhere and its means that
the information, unwittingly given out
by the politician who threatened that
the country would be governable has
element of truth.
Why did you retire from police and choose
to go into politics?
It’s because of the situation in the

country. As an experienced person, I
know I have all it takes to manage security and politics together.
Why did you choose PDP of all parties?
I joined PDP because it’s nationally
accepted, no matter the critics and criticism. I believe in the party’s ideology.
Check out all political parties in Nigeria, you’d find that PDP is the only political party that’s not biased in picking
national leaders. I’m from Cross River,
Obudu Local Government and I declared
for PDP in the state. My ward is Otugwang central.
Is your governor Liyel Imoke performing
well?
My governor is doing well and hardworking. There’s peace there. He’s up
and doing, considering that Cross River
is given small budget.
We have financial problems in Cross
River State. We have problem of the 76
oil wells given to Akwa Ibom, it’s affecting the economy of the state. The Bakassi issue that was ceded to Cameroun is
also affecting the state. The governor is

Who’s planning to take over as the new
governor in the state?
I heard that it’s zoned to the northern
Cross River and for equity and peace to
reign, and for us to live as sisters and
brothers, let them zone it to the north
as agreed. That’s what’s agreed by the
hierarchy of the party. It has gone to
Cross River South and central before.
What your suggestions for Nigerians?
They should learn to live in peace
and love another. We should behave like
Americans. They’re proud and never
discriminate! No matter our ethnic
group, we’re one Nigerians! We should
not discriminate in who will rule or not.
It’s a bad concept!
Another thing is that Nigeria government doesn’t know how to make use of
retired officers. If a man retires at 50,
what does he do with the rest of his life
and with his experience and we’re talking about Boko Haram? Such officers
are still very young and can contribute
to the security of this country. They’re
trained specialist and know what to do.
When an officer is retired at a young age,
the brain and experiences are wasting!
In USA, you work as a police officer until you’re 70 or 80 years, but in Nigeria, 55
years is all. A 55-year-old person is still a
very young one. Some of us joined police
at a very young age. My age mates are still
in the police. I know that there are many
retired police officers who have experiences and should be used by the government.
They can hire them on contract basis.

Between elusive Abubakar Shekau and security agencies
Juliana Francis

A

bubakar Shekau is the leader
of Boko Haram sect. He served
as deputy leader to the group’s
founder, Mohammed Yusuf, until Yusuf was killed in 2009. Nigerian
authorities believed that Shekau was
killed in 2009 during clashes between
security forces and Boko Haram militants until July 2010 when he appeared
in a video claiming leadership of the
group. In the video, Shekau indicated
that he had been shot in the thigh but
survived the fighting.
In June 2012 the U.S. State Department
designated Shekau as a terrorist and in
effect froze any of his assets in America.
The United States Department of State
offered a $7 million reward and the Nigeria government offered a N50 million
reward for his capture, making him the
most wanted man in Nigeria and Islamist
in Africa.
Shekau survived an attempt on his life
by Nigerian security forces. He has tak-

Shekau

en credit for the kidnapping of over 200
school girls in April 2014. Since his near
death he has increased his violent attacks.
Shekau was born in the Republic of
Niger, although it has also been claimed
that he was born in Shekau village in Yobe
State of Nigeria. It is unclear how old he is
with speculation suggesting he is 34 or 35;
some have said he is 43 years old.
If so much information is available

about Shekau, why has he become so
elusive, almost mystical that our security
agencies can’t nail him?
Was he forged out of hell? Where are
his parents, cousins, friends, brothers
and sisters? I can’t believe that he cut off
all ties with family members because of
his belief in this vague, nebulous, though
horrifying war! That he had repeatedly
exposed his face, is a slap and mockery
of our security agencies. Perhaps our
security agencies should now begin to
have and build database for suspected
criminals and indeed anyone that had
had a reason to be arrested and taken
into custody.
Such database usually goes a long
way to help in profiling of a suspect and
making arrest. They should also begin
to think about scientific investigation.
What they’ve been doing since Shekau
and his cohorts’ unleashed hell on Nigerians, is mere guessing work and wastage of manpower and bullets!
And what the heck had happened to
undercover detectives in Nigeria? Is the

Boko Haram sect so difficult to infiltrate?
Why are bugs not planted in the homes
of some of the northern governors? Why
are phones of governors who had been
suspected not bugged?
I don’t see the killings, bombs and
abductions ending too soon, for its clear
that Boko Haram members or Shekau also
thrive and enjoy attention, not just from
the media, but also from the Nigerian government and international communities.
This is why, whenever it appeared Nigerians are beginning to ignore them, they will
look for something cruel, appalling, daring
and sickening to commit: like the Nyanya
twin explosions and kidnap of the Chibok
girls. These daring tendencies however
might soon become Shekau’s undoing.
Sometimes, there’s just no perfect crime.
Frankly, security agencies in Nigeria
are not doing enough. I don’t understand
why international communities have not
been invited to help sort out this saddening
and tragic mess.

SMS: 08189679439

FAMILY AFFAIRS
Page 41, FRIDAY, MAY 9, 2014

NEW TELEGRAPH

www.newtelegraphonline.com/familyaffairs

PRINCESS ODUNAYOMI OKE

WOMAN EDITOR

odunayomitide2010@gmail.com
0909 124 6811 (sms only)

We want our girls back!

Odunayomi Oke
am not in any way reporting a story,
but I am expressing a sincere concern about the plight of families
whose children have been abducted
for almost a month now. There is a
saying that “someone’s child is dead
is better than someone’s child is missing.’’ So it is really a big pain in the
heart to sleep and wake up every day
believing that somehow, your missing
child would walk in through the door.
Or better still, that a call would come
in on your phone; or a link from any
source informing you of your child’s
where about.
Maybe it has never crossed some of
our hearts, but no affected family will
know the true meaning of laughter;
until their children are found in good
state of health. Mentally, some of these
parents must have been turned to nuts.
And truth is, many of them will sooner
or later need the help of psychologists
to retain their sanity.
Going through the list of the 180
names already released by the school,
some family names were repeated
twice, and some thrice. Really, it could
be that some people share same family

I

name, but at the same time, it could
mean some families have more than a
child or two taken away.
This abduction case has gone beyond a National issue, to a universal outcry of anguish. On Monday, I
watched Nigerian Women in Diaspora
on CNN News, carrying placards expressing their concern in the search
for these innocent young girls. Oh it
was touching! Majority of them must
have left aside their personal problem,
to be a part of the rally.
Again on Tuesday, as I was putting
this piece together, CNN reported another case of eight children abducted
right from their homes; in Warabe,
still in Bornu State. What an effrontery! This is becoming a bad case of
insecurity. No one sleeps with both
eyes closed again. It means, if Parents
are restless over the safety of their
children in schools, then what do we
say about these ones taken away from
right under their roofs? Honestly, the
solution lies with God; and Him alone.
So, if there are families here at
home, that still feel indifferent about
this case, I think it is high time we told
ourselves the truth. It was Chibok,
and other people’s children, but who

knows where, and whose children
next? I mean, it is like “the heaven that
is coming down,” which could fall on
anybody, I mean just anybody; rich or
poor.
This affects us all, whether you are
a wife, mother, aunt, sister or daughter. No one is left out of this search,
fight and struggle. You might not be so
privileged to carry placards, or lead a
group out to show your support, but we
can all show our solidarity by taking

I want to awaken us all to
the fact that these cases
of abduction and massacre
everywhere should not
be mistaken for a battle
of wits at all; as weapons
of grammar, arms and
ammunitions, will fail in any
fight

this up as an indirect battle. Someone
may want to ask, “But how do we fight
such a battle? Very simple, never leave
your house in the morning without
mentioning those girls case to God in
prayer, nor go to bed at night without
doing same.
Particularly, involve your children
in the prayer. Let them feel the pain
of the situation, by telling them those
abducted girls are children like them.
Only that now, nobody; except God
knows their where about. It must not
just be a prayer as simple as “We want
our girls back,” but it must be that of
decreeing definite things. It will amaze
you to see that children know how to
pray such prayers, and the beauty of
it, is that God answers the heartfelt
prayers of children; with speed.
One of the people i spoke with on
the issue (a father of two, a boy and a
girl, who spoke under anonymity) said
“Ah, please don’t even ask me what I
would do if my daughter was one of
them, because I will demonstrate practical madness.” As the discussion went
on, he kept on repeating “That means
they have killed me. Please, let me not
CONTINUED on PAGE 43

42 FamilY AFFAIRS | woman to woman

Sanctity of Truth

Friday, May 9, 2014

Coping with difficult in-laws (2)
Odunayomi Oke

I

thought the issue of receiving
bad treatment from in-laws,
was peculiar to wives, until
I heard the story of Willy;
whose mother-in-law, was a big
bully. He said he had to put up
with her excesses for close to 12
years of their marriage.
Each time the woman visited
them, she stayed for as long as
two to three months. But for
the whole period of her stay,
she would do nothing, but boss
everybody around in the house.
The house maid must not be allowed to sit in the living room,
only torn clothes should be given to her, the driver must not be
served any food cooked in the
house; since he was on salary,
and many more like that.
He said, the last straw that
broke the camel’s back was
when she moved in with them
without prior notice. What annoyed him was that on the said
day, she only called early in the
morning, and asked that the
driver be sent to pick her up.
But they got the shock of
their lives upon returning home
that evening. Not only did she
move her whole belongings
with her, she moved right into
the guest section of the main
house; which is a three bedroom
en-suite facility; while she settled her house girl in one of the
rooms. When asked for an expla-

nation, she simply said she was
sorry she did not inform them
on time, and had leased out the
3 bedroom apartment built for
her eight years ago. Her reason,
electricity in the area became
very bad, and she could not continue to bear with the noise from
the generator.
That was it; he got mad at his
wife, himself, everybody, just for
being taken for a fool. It almost
caused a separation between
him and his wife, but for the
intervention of a close family
friend, and his mother. He said
it was the same mother-in-law
who caused enmity between his
wife and his mother, at the early
stage of their marriage, which
took a very long time to correct.
During her period of stay,
her house-help quarrelled with
their own over every little thing,
and she made herself too visible
in the house to the extent there
was no privacy again; even in
their bedroom. But after putting
up with her excess for about
five months, and they noticed
they could not receive guests in
their house again; they rented
a three bedroom apartment for
her somewhere close to them.
Ini was another woman who
had it rough with not just her
mother-in-law, but her husband’s siblings. She said her
mother or any of her siblings
must not stay for more than
some few days in her house at

any point in time, because of
her in-laws trouble. But her
parents-in-law have a bedroom
suite in the house, which has
been labelled even by the children; as Grandma and Grandpa’s room.
One time during the dedication of their last child, they had
several guests, and some had to
sleep over in her parents-inlaw’s room. One of them must
have left a charger behind,
which no one saw when cleaning the room. Few days after,
when her mother-in-law arrived, she saw the charger, and
asked the cleaner for an explanation. Since she knew it would
mean trouble to tell mama some
people made use of the room
during the child’s dedication,
she referred her to the madam
of the house.
In trying to explain to her
why she put some people in the

That, she repeated
at another time. As
they were eating at
the table, she got
up and went into
the kitchen; plate in
hand

room, she said “but mama, you
cannot expect us to lock up that
room when people could not get
where to sleep.” That was like
an insult to her, and she warned
her never to open the room to
any visitor again, not even to
her own parents.
But before she left, one of
her children who later joined
her, was left in the same room
“nobody should enter.” Ini concluded that with most in-laws,
perseverance is just the word;
otherwise many women would
not have where to call a home
today.
Mary’s experience was quite
different, as her mother-in-law
competes with her as if they
were two women married to
the same man. The woman had
at several occasions constituted
herself as a distraction in their
marriage, and even succeeded
in causing quarrels between
them many times.
There was a time the woman
visited them, and her husband
was travelling. After dropping
money with her, as he turned to
leave, his mother stopped him to
ask for her own pocket money.
The son was like, “But you have
all you need in the house; and
more so I will just be away for
two days.” Still, she insisted she
wanted to cook her own soup to
her taste.
At the end of the day she did
not cook any soup, but still went

into the general pot, and served
herself the choicest meat in
there. That she repeated at another time, as they were eating at the
table, she got up and went into the
kitchen; plate in hand. Few minutes after, the son followed, and
found his mother pushing some
meat aside, obviously searching
for a big one.
He definitely got mad at her,
and gave her a piece of his mind.
She cried, though she still ate the
meat. She later laid the blame on
her, that she was the one setting
his son against her. Mary said
she had played the fool with her
in-laws severally, just to keep her
marriage intact.
She said whenever they go to
the village; the woman would
pack all the food stuff they
went with, from the kitchen,
into her room, and expect her
to knock her door to get whatever she needed. Each time she
complained to her husband, he
would plead with her to do as his
mother has requested, as it might
be customary.
With all these stories, one can
deduce that some mothers- in-law
are just troublesome individuals,
but that does not make every one
of them so. And to women, I will
like to say if some women could
cope with the most difficult inlaws, and prevail; then you can
also endeavour to cope with
yours. After all, perseverance
always pays off in the end.

odunayomitide2010@gmail.com
08082592471 (sms only)

FamilY AFFAIRS

Sanctity of Truth

Friday, May 9, 2014

with

COUNSELLING Q & A
PRINCESS ODUNAYOMI OKE

Dear Counsellor,
I am a Christian, 40 years old. I
enjoy reading your column in the NEW
TELEGRAPH NEWSPAPERS. I have gained
so much through your write-ups. Please,
how do I know a woman ordained for me? I
am the eldest child of my Parent, and some
of my siblings are married with children. Am
I enchanted? I am tired of doling out money
to women.
First and foremost, I must appreciate you for being an avid reader of my
write-ups. Please keep it up!
Though your letter was lengthy, but I
will make an attempt at touching every
part of it. You have to realise that it is
impossible to change another person,
until we change ourselves. I think it is
high time you braced up and face this
marital issue as a man. You cannot continue getting counsels from different
counsellors without making use of any.
A woman ordained for you will be
interested in you as a person first, and
not in what she could get from you. She
will work towards adding to you, and
not reducing you. Going by what you
said about that woman and her daughter, they are people you should keep at
arm’s length. It’s obvious they are only
out to use you and move on to the next
“mugu.”
As touching your being tired of doling out money to women, nobody can
help you stop that, as only you can do
that. What are those gifts meant for, to
buy them over, or to impress them? I
mean, even Father Christmas only
gives out gifts in the spirit of a season.
You may not really be enchanted,
but may only need to be wiser in your
relationships with the opposite sex. Tell
yourself the hard truth, and women
will stop taking you for a ride. It’s good
you already have a list of the qualities
you want in a wife, if you can get 50%,
please go ahead; as there is no perfect
being anywhere.
Stop comparing yourself with your
siblings. We all have different destinies;
more so, the time you wake up is your
own morning. And if you are just 40,
it means “the sun remaining is still
enough to dry (your) clothes. But bros,
wake up, and be wise!
I look forward to reading your articles on
Fridays. My wife was particularly blessed by
the exposition you did on Pregnancy Previa;
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 41

just think about it, as that will mean
serious trouble.”
Another man I spoke with, said
“Yes, you women know how to show
emotion better than us, but that does
not mean we are heartless; after all,
we are joint owners of our children.”
He also added that his daughters are
his joy, so he cannot imagine any of
them being abducted, and he would be
sleeping and waking up doing nothing.
I asked a father how he would feel if
his daughter was among, but returned
violated, or worst still, impregnated.
His response; “But you will agree
with me that either of such could still
be managed; as they are better than
death, or this prolonged torture.”
That was pretty touching, but that
is the spirit. Only that we pray none
of such happens to the young girls. It
is also encouraging to see that some
men have joined in the rally, but other
men, husbands, uncles and brothers
are also encouraged to rise up, and not
to see this as something to be left for
the women alone. Yes, we carry them
in our wombs, nurse and suckle them
till they are weaned, raise and nurture
them, but truth remains; we cannot
bring them to life without the men’s

odunayomitide2010@gmail.com
0909 124 6811 (sms only)

about a month ago. Last week’s report on a
Hydrocele also came at a good time, as we
have been having concern since last year
about the sudden change in the size of my
testicles. My wife kept telling me about
the increase in size, but I dismissed it as a
non-issue; since I was not having any pain
or discomfort there. But early this year, due
to her persistence, I agreed to see a doctor;
who said it could be age-induced, or I should
go for a scan to get the exact details.
I settled for the former, believing the
enlargement could be linked with age.
Now, after reading about a Hydrocele
last week, I think I should actually go
for a scan. What do you think about
this?
Thanks for choosing our newspapers
(particularly, the Friday title) and for
commending our effort. We are happy
to know what we do here is already
blessing homes, and touching lives.
Yes, I agree you should go have a
pelvic scan, which will give a vivid
picture of your testicles, and probably
your kidneys. I mean, there is really
no harm in that. The real harm may
be in ignoring to do so, as fear of the
unknown is the real problem.
What you don’t know, cannot kill
you, they say, but for as long as it keeps
troubling you, it is doing some harm to
you; both psychologically, and mentally.
Though, I have heard that stuff before; that as a man gets to the margin
of 50, his testicles grows slightly bigger
in size.
But, I will still encourage you to follow your heart, to allay all fears. And
whatever the result; be assured that to
make an effort and be wrong, is far better than, not to make a move, and still
be wrong. So act now!

Talk to us
What are you worried about? Your
Health, Career, Children, relationship
with Spouse, Partner, or in-laws? Do
you have a question you want to ask,
but you are embarrassed about? Why
must you remain worried, sad or depressed when you could talk to someone? Feel free to talk to the counsellor
on this page. You will be glad you did!

NOTE:

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name or contact, for any reason.

The impact of TV on children

M

y six year old son had nightmares for three consecutive
days. I was really worried.
“God what is happening”? I
asked.
In the middle of this unpleasant
experience, I sat with my son, watching a cartoon on a Cable Network.
“Mummy, look at this Alien Force,
it is changing to a dragon, I can also
change to a dragon.” “That is it”, I
thought within me. I now realized
that he watches a certain cartoon at
night which resulted to his nightmares.
For those who do not know this
cartoon character, he has powers to
change to ten frightening “creatures”
(sorry “aliens” my son just corrected
me). It took me a lot of conversation
to convince my dear son that the
cartoon was not good for him. Parents purchase wristwatches, towel,
stationeries, t-shirts and even shoes
embedded with those cartoon images.
Have you observed that most cartoons and children programs aired
by some Cable Networks are full of
violence? May God help us!
In the 80’s and 90’s, good educational programs and cartoons were aired
on our TV stations. Going down
memory lane, I can remember Tales
by Moonlight aired by NTA. Cartoons such as Clue Club, Atom Ant,
Water-Ville Gang, Voltron, Globetrotters, G-Force, and Sesame Street;
were non-violent. We always looked
forward to watching them. Outdoor
games such as “Ten-Ten”, “Suwe”,
bicycle-riding, hide and seek, skipping and table-tennis (usually locally
setup with stones and sticks) were
fun!
But now, the world has gone digital!
Computer games, TV games, 24hour
cable network programs keep our
children indoors. There are varieties
of children programs that can keep a
child glued to the TV for hours without end. The arrival of Cable Networks has virtually taken over the
hearts of our children, deriving them
the joy of outdoor games. Very few
of these programs are educational;
while majority are full of violence,
sex, wrestling, reality shows, movies,
worldly songs and dance etc.
Television has a powerful influence in shaping the behavioral pattern of our children. Studies have
shown that children who view pro-

We want our girls back!
input. Hence, their welfare/wellbeing
is our joint responsibility.
At the same time, I want to awaken
us all to the fact that these cases of
abduction and massacre everywhere
should not be mistaken for a battle of
wits at all; as weapons of grammar,
arms and ammunitions, will fail in any
fight. Only God’s intervention, (which
often comes in form of wise counsel
and divinely guided steps) can wipe
out the whole army of these evil perpetrators in one sweep.
It is highly commendable that CNN,
aside our local stations, is doing a
good job reporting the case from time
to time, but truth remains we need a
Superior intervention; or the situation
remains a pain in our hearts for yet a
longer period. But God forbid!
Also, let us all keep our ears open.
I don’t mean for alarming and mind
wearying news like “Boko haram
claims to be responsible for the abduction of the girls” or “Boko haram
threatens to sell the girls.” But there
may be some useful information that
can help in tracing those school girls.
I mean, we can all play roles of detectives, without being loud or foolish

43

about it. Just a clue, one wise step,
and we could have our girls back like
a dream of the night.
Yours truly joins the affected families, their loved ones, Nigerians home
and Abroad, and the entire Universe;
in saying, we want our girls back….
well and alive. And that, within the
next few days, or……………………

grams in which violence is prominent are more likely to imitate what
they view. By the time a child is 18
years old, he or she will have witnessed 200,000 acts of violence including 40,000 murders just by watching television.
Children from the ages of five to
18, spend more time in front of computers, televisions, and game screens
than any other activity in their daily
lives except sleeping. Observing siesta is a foregone issue in the lives
of our children. Studies have also
shown that children who watch large
amounts of TV and movie violence
are more likely to display aggressive
behavioral attitude and values. Little wonder there is a lot of violence
and teenage pregnancy amongst our
youths. Media violence has a great
influence on children’s behavior.
Young children are most susceptible
to the effect of media violence.
Shows meant for adults are usually
viewed by children without parental
control. Most Nigerian Home videos are violence inclined and some
parents even watch such programs
with their children. Television is now
serving as a babysitting tool to keep
children quiet and out of the way.
Television watching is meant to be
fun and relaxing activity for kids and
adults. It has relatively become harmful because of the shows it broadcasts
and the way it is used in the home.
Banning is not the solution! Rather, learn to co-exist with television
by managing how much your kids
watch, and what they watch.
- It is wise to start young, because
as the child grow older, it will become
difficult to exert control.
- Limit the amount of time your
kids spend watching television, especially during the weekdays.
- Allow your kids get involved in
other activities such as sports, hobbies, dancing and outdoor games.
- As a bookseller I recommend
puzzles for children. This will help
develop their cognitive skills. I can
assure you that children love puzzles.
As I was concluding this article, I
could see my son putting together a
puzzle (Dora The Explorer). This will
divert his attention for an hour.
- As a replacement, parents are
encouraged to purchase good educational DVDs (e.g. Encarta), Christian
Bible Cartoons are also available.
- Monitor what your children watch
and whenever possible, watch it with
them and discuss the program.
- Young children are at higher risk
of becoming aggressive after watching violence on TV especially the
Cartoons and movies. Parents need
to monitor and limit the amount of
violence they are exposed to.
- Expose and encourage them to
watch varieties of programs such
sports, nature, science shows, the
arts, music and historical shows.
- If you ask me, a TV set should not
be placed in your kid’s room. “Out of
sight, is out of mind”. When you are
asleep at night, your children could
watch unwholesome programs without your knowledge.
- Have a “No-TV time”. Let your
children know and respect this.
Place restriction on viewing of certain shows.
- Kids model the behavior of their
parents, so take a look at your own
viewing habits, and where possible,
change them.
- Do not leave your TV on when you
are not watching it. Turn it off.
I pray that God will grant us wisdom to train up our children in the
right ways.
Christianah Akindolie
08166655527 (SMS only)

E X H O RTATI O N

44

NEW TELEGRAPH

newtelegraphonline.com/islam

adeolaomoyusuf@yahoo.com
0803 438 0340
MAY 9, 2014

O you who have believed, when you contract a debt
for a specified term, write it down. And let a scribe
write [it] between you in justice. Let no scribe refuse
to write as Allah has taught him. So let him write and
let the one who has the obligation dictate. And let
him fear Allah , his Lord, and not leave anything out
of it…(Qur’an 2: 282).”

FURY
Islamic groups have
continued condemnation
of Boko Haram over its
despicable doctrine
Adeola Yusuf

T

he anger by Muslim Ummah against Boko Haram
has surged with many Islamic groups condemning
the threat by the insurgent
group to sell about 273 girls,
which in its illegal captivity.
The Muslim Rights Concern
(MURIC) in a statement said
it and indeed the entire mainstream Muslim Ummah of Nigeria, clearly, unambiguously
and unequivocally declares the
action of the renegades as categorically unacceptable.
“This criminal, inhuman,
sadistic, archaic and barbaric
act,” according to MURIC’s
statement signed by its Direc-

tor, Professor Ishaq Akintola,
“stands in contradistinction to
the tenets of Islam regarding
the treatment of the girl-child,
women in general as well as
the conduct of war.”
Boko Haram has claimed
responsibility for the kidnapping of about 273 girls of a government secondary school in
Chibok, Borno State.
The claim was made via a
video clip in which the group’s
leader, Shekau, threatened to
sell off the girls. Another set of
8 girls has also been kidnapped
in the same area this week.
Angered by this act, MURIC
however said: “Islam promises the girl-child life, not
death; hope, not frustration;
liberty, not captivity. It was
Islam which forbade the ancient and pernicious policy of
burying female children alive
(Qur’an 16:58-59; 81:8-9). The
Holy Prophet (peace be upon
him) called men who are kind
to women the best among men.
The Prophet said, “The most

perfect Muslims are the best in
conduct and the best of you are
the best in conduct to women.”
MURIC continued that
Prophet Muhammad also said,
“Whoever has a daughter and
does not insult her but treats
her equally with the male
children, Allah will give him
a place in paradise”. Where
then did Boko Haram get its
despicable doctrine which dishonours the girl-child?
Stating that the case of Boko
Haram has become an interesting study in religious perversity,
Akintola said insisted that Islam
teaches peaceful coexistence
while the insurgents preaches
killing and maiming innocent
people in the name of religion.
Prophet Muhammad, according to MURIC once said,
‘Do not kill the monks in monasteries, and do not kill those
sitting in places of worship”
(Musnad Ahmad Ibn Hanbal),
Boko Haram kills people inside
churches and mosques. Boko
Haram has indeed become a

social gangarene which must
be burned out with hot iron.
“MURIC charges the leadership of Boko Haram to retrace
its steps. Our daughters cannot be held captive even under
Shari’ah law talk less of selling them into slavery because
our cities are not at war with
Boko Haram. It is only the
military who are engaging the
insurgents.
“Civilian targets are therefore haram for Boko Haram.
It is even most cowardly to
focus attacks on soft targets
like women and little girls.
It beats all rules of chivalry.
Real men do not brutalize little
girls. This is why the Prophet
forbade the killing, hurting or
harassment of women, little
children and elderly people
during wars.
“We call on Muslims in
the conflict areas and those
in neighbouring countries of
Chad, Niger and Cameroon to
resist any attempt to sell these
innocent girls in their territory. Islam does not promote
slavery, neither does it condon
forceful marriage.
“We call on the Federal Government to leave the anti-kidnap protesters alone. Peaceful
protest is a legitimate means
of expressing dissent. Instead
of chasing shadows, the Federal Government should harness
its anti-terrorism arsenals and
disburse them effectively.,”
MURIC said.
It concluded that it and indeed the entire mainstream
Muslim Ummah of Nigeria
commiserate with parents of
the abducted girls, the authorities of the affected school,
the government and people
of Borno State and the good
people of Nigeria. We share
the pain and the trauma of
the past three weeks and pray
that the nightmare will end in
happiness for the victims and
the rest of Nigerians.

Ignorance gave birth to suicide bombing –Al-Ilory
Waheed Bakare

A

prominent Muslim cleric
and Rector, Markaz Arabic
and Islamic Training Centre, Lagos, Sheik Habeebullahi Adam Al-Ilory, has said
ignorance and lack of proper
understanding of Islam gave
birth to suicide bombing.
Al-Ilory, who said this at
the graduation ceremony of
the institution last Sunday,
insisted that there was no justification for suicide bombing
in Islam.
He said, “Ignorance makes
some people to claim that they

are jihadists when they do not
have knowledge about Islam.
Before you can talk about Shariah, you must have knowledge about Islam. It is lack of
knowledge that gave birth to
suicide bombing.
“It is only when we are all
Muslims that we can say we
want to practice Shariah.
Prophet Mohammed had advised us that we should make
our religion attractive. If you
killed everybody, who are the
people we are going to use the
Shariah on?
“Why must some people say
the Christians should leave Nigeria? God did not give us the

permission to kill people of
other faiths.”
Al-Ilory advised the graduates to be good ambassadors
of the institution and avoid
being used as agents of destabilisation, noting that there
were some foreign elements
who were bent on destabilising Nigeria.
He urged them to continue to seek knowledge till
they die, saying this was the
only way they could be outstanding.
The cleric said, “The intention of your parents for bringing you here is for you to be
clerics and ambassadors of

Islam. This is also in line with
the intention of the founder of
the school, late Sheik Adam
Abdullahi Al-Ilory.
“In whatever you are doing, put God first. If you do
this, whatever you do will last
for a long time. If otherwise,
it will not stand the test of
time. Be good ambassadors of
Islam and Markaz. Don’t allow
yourselves to be used as agents
of destruction.”
Observing that religion
could be used to destabilise
the country, Al-llory urged religious leaders irrespective of
their faiths to be wary of their
utterances.

UNDERSTAND
YOUR FAITH
CONTINUED FROM LAST FRIDAY

AL-TOHARAH - PURIFICATION

Meaning: Purification is the cleansing of impurities. In Islam purification is the cleansing of body and soul
and places of worship of all form of
impurities.

SIGNIFICANCE OF PURIFICATION
As for the Muslim, whenever any
good affects him he knows that
it is a favour from his Lord, for he
knows that he deserves nothing
from Allah by right and this belief
will make him thank his Lord and
praise Him. Also, if any evil afflicts
him he perseveres and seeks the
reward of his Lord, for he knows
that, that is the result of a sin he
has committed or that Allah wants
to elevate his rank in the Hereafter. Allah says, “And whatever of
misfortune that befalls you, it is
because of what your hands have
earned. And He pardons much.”
(Surah Ash-Shura 42:30)
The Muslim examines himself,
review his deeds and repents for
every sin he commits. As for the
disbeliever, if any favour comes
his way, he becomes insolent and
arrogant and starts transgressing.
And when any calamity afflicts him
he despairs and becomes impatient. This world is his Paradise and
his lord is his desires.
Brethren in faith! Muslims, these
days, are afflicted with many
calamities. Many causes have
however been given for these
tribulations. Some say that they
are a result of the evil plan of the
enemies, some say they are the result of our economic recession and
some say they are the result of the
Muslim’s industrial and technological backwardness etc. All this are
just symptoms of the ailment. The
real cause of this sorry situation is
the Muslim’s negligence of their religion individually and collectively.
Allah says,
“(What is the matter with you?)
When a single disaster smites you,
although you smote (your enemies)
with one twice as great, you say,
‘From where does this come to us?’
Say (to them): It is from yourselves
(because of your evil deeds).’ And
Allah has power over all things.”
(Surah Aal ‘Imran 3:165)
He also says, “Allah will not change
the condition of a people as long
as they do not change their state
themselves.” (Surah Ar-Ra‘d 13:11)
Muslims in their history have
passed through some periods
which were more severe than the
present one in afflictions and in
which their enemies subjected
them to persecutions. But then
they made a sincere return to their
religion with knowledge and Faith.
TO BE CONTINUED

METRO 45

of Truth

Gunmen attack Adamawa
community, steal 170 cows
Ibrahim Abdul
Yola

gain, gunmen suspected to be
AHaram
members of the dreaded Boko
struck in Kishirnga vil-

g

ssengers speak out,
n’t get killed –FRSC

aji and
ekwere

ce carnage on the road,
deral Road Safety Comn (FRSC) has kicked-off
awareness programme.
gramme, tagged: “Pasak out, don’t get killed by
as launched yesterday on
badan Expressway.
under the aegis of West
ad Safety Organisation
Unit Commander of RS.23
mmand, Assistant Corps
r (ACP), Oludare Ogunjobi,
cutive committee meeting
nou, Benin Republic from
6, came out with a decision
May 8 be set aside as Subety Day. The executive comrises representatives from
n sub-regional nations that
d safety programme.
i explained that the idea
olve passengers actively
rtaining to their safety.

He said: “Passengers must engage
actively in safeguarding themselves
on the expressways. They must understand that when their driver is
over speeding, driving dangerously,
answering calls on steering, lacking
concentration, it is their duty to call
him to order and at his persistence
call 122 to report him.”
Ogunjobi said he had deployed
his men in all the motor parks and
the stretch of the Lagos – Ibadan
Expressway within his jurisdiction
to create the awareness and share
handbills to all motorists.
“The best way to communicate it
to commuters is by using a Motorised
Rally Exercise (MRE) and it has been
very successful as many passengers
are grateful and have asked several
road safety questions as well as made
recommendations.
“It is time passengers understood
that it is their right for drivers to take
them to their destination safely. This
programme is designed to bring that
mentality to passengers,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Rivers State Com-

mand of FRSC has warned motorists to be careful while driving on the
highways to avoid crashes.
The state Sector Command of
FRSC, Mr Sunday Oghemekaro,
gave the warning at the launch of the
maiden edition of WARSO yesterday
in Port Harcourt.
According to Oghemekaro, some
of the goals of WARSO include the
inculcation of road safety ideas in
the youth through the introduction
of road education in primary and
secondary schools across the country.
He said the day was set aside to
integrate citizens of member states
to participate in traffic safety campaigns, adding that already, the
course had been introduced in the
schools in collaboration with the National Educational Council.
Oghemekaro said the theme highlighted the role of passengers in the
on-going campaign which mandated
the commission to speak out against
improper conduct on the part of drivers such as overloading and use of
worn-out tires.

lage in Madagali Local Government Area of Adamawa State and
stole two herds of cows numbering
about 170.
A villager, Joseph Ularamu,
said that the insurgents, who
came on motorcycles, asked the
residents of farming community
not to run.
He said: “They told us that they
have not come to kill but to get food
stuff and other items.
“So they took away with 170
cows. They ordered the shepherd

to lead the cows. But as I am talking to you now, we are yet to see
the man.”
The Chairman of Madagali council, Mr Abawu James Watharda, said
that no life was lost during the attack.
“As I’m talking to you now,
many people, mostly children and
women, are fleeing the area while
we are trying to calm them down,”
he said.
The chairman added that soldiers
had been dispatched to the area to
beef up security.
Watharda called on the people to
remain calm as the council was on
top of the situation.
This is the second time in less
than five months that insurgents
were attacking the area.

Akure Chief Magistrates’ Court
Ato nyesterday
sentenced three people
three years imprisonment each

for attempting to sell a 13-year-old
boy, Kareem Sabiu, for N8 million.
The convicts are the father of
the boy, a Benin Republic national,
Aside Saibu (39), Abdullateef Mumuni and Kadir Rasaq, both 24 years
old.
The Magistrate, Adebanji Ayeomoni, held that “having found the
three accused persons guilty on
the two counts of conspiracy and
attempt to sell a human being, the
three are hereby sentenced to three
years imprisonment each without
an option of fine”.
The convicts of no fixed address
were earlier arraigned on a twocount charge of conspiracy and attempt to sell human being. They all
pleaded guilty to the offences.
The prosecutor, ASP Zakari Ibrahim, told the court that the father of
the victim and two others conspired

to sell the boy for N8 million.
Ibrahim said that the father
brought the boy from Cotonou in
Benin Republic to Nigeria to meet
with the others convicts, who live
in Ibadan, to help him find buyers.
According to him, luck ran out
on the convicts when they contacted
someone in Ondo town who in turn
informed the police about their intention.
He said: “Their contact in Ondo
pretended to be interested in the
deal and he kept negotiating with
them until the arrival of the police.”
The prosecutor said that the three
convicts committed the offence
about 6pm on May 3 in Ondo Town.
According to him, the offence
contravened the provisions of Section 516 of the Criminal Code cap 37
vol.1 laws of Ondo State of Nigeria,
2006 and contrary to Section 30(1)
and punishable under Section 30(3)
of the Ondo State Child Right Laws,
2007
Counsel to the convicts, Mr Femi
Adetoye, urged the court to be lenient to his clients.

ice not doing enough – Father Lagos to shut Masha

er head, she became un-

journalists on the fleeing mobile policeman recently, Manko said the poprised at the way the
lice were still after the man.
ndling the mat“We are not resting our
y the Lagos
oars and the matter has
22 Squadnot died down. We
e mobile
will still hunt for
aimed
him. The matter
t, but
has been transferred to the State
dant
Criminal Invesdron
nowtigation Department (SCID). We
t inwill get him.”
body
Meanwhile,
ident
Unyebuchukwu
y wife
said that he had
he ones
spent all his life
of my
savings on the treath little asment of Amarachi.
Unyebuchukwu
m our family
He said: “As I speak
with you now, I have spent
about N400,000 on the treatment of
the police claimed they
him, I learnt he had my daughter. We are still spending
tu police station, Apapa more, and I don’t know when she will
egunle police division.”
be leaving the hospital.
fielding questions from
“My daughter is still lying critically

ill at the hospital, while the mobile policeman is walking free on the street.”
Unyebuchukwu also said that when
Gbuchenge parked into the house, he
was a very gentle man.
He said: “My wife used to serve him
free lunch whenever he did not go to
work. I wonder why he decided to abduct my daughter.
“I became suspicious of him when
he started driving his car into the compound in the middle of the night and
going out with a big ‘Ghana-must-go
bag’ inside the boot of his car. It was
after my daughter’s incident that everything became clear to me.
“The source of his sudden wealth
baffles most of us in the compound.
When he parked into his apartment,
he came with only one motorcycle.
But now he has about four different
cars.
“I suspect that he has been killing innocent children in the neighbourhood; my daughter’s incident
exposed many of its atrocities in our
area.”

bridges for 20 days
Muritala Ayinla

L

agos State Government said
yesterday that it would close
two bridges on Alhaji Masha
Road in Surulere Local Government Area for 20 days.
The Commissioner for Transportation, Comrade Kayode
Opeifa, who made the announcement, said the closure was for the
bridge expansion joints replacement exercise
Opeifa said the repair work
on the bridges would take place
between Saturday May 10 and
Friday 30.
The commissioner added that
the contractor would commence
work at Masha Bridge I (Adeniran Ogunsanya Junction) for
the last 10 days, beginning from
Wednesday May 21.
He said: “As part of the traffic

management strategies during
the exercise on bridges on Alhaji Masha Road, vehicular movement in both directions would
be restricted. Similarly, vehicles
moving inward Alhaji Masha
Road will use the service lane
during the maintenance work.
“This notice serves as awareness information on the bridge
closure. Motorists and other road
users are therefore advised to use
alternative routes to avoid delays.
“The state government appeals
for caution and co-operation from
all road users by obeying all traffic regulations and ensure traffic flow during the maintenance
period.”
Opeifa added that the government regretted inconveniences,
saying relevant agencies had
been directed to ensure free flow
of traffic during the period.

46 BUSINESS | FINANCIAL MARKET NEWS

Sanctity of Truth

Friday, May 9, 2014

FMDQ Daily Quotations List

7-May-14

The FMDQ Daily Quotations List (DQL) comprises market and model prices/rates of foreign exchange ($/N) products, fixed income securities and instruments in the OTC market. The use of this report is subject
to the FMDQ OTC PLC Terms of Use and Disclaimer Statement.

tank, the institute will focus on
academically rigorous, practically applicable research and
multi-stakeholder engagement
to advocate for public policies
and business practices that
will unlock opportunities for
all Africans.
During the launch press
conference, David Rice, the
Director of the institute presented an example of the institute’s preliminary research
demonstrating that not all
growth is created equal.
10.20 IFC 11-FEB-2018
The initial research empha-

sizes the difference between
a county’s rate of economic
growth versus the amount of
growth from local value creation and multiplication. It
also briefly explains some of
the indicators that feed into
its “Theory of Change” as a
catalyst to drive Africapitalist investments across Africa.
The Institute was unveiled
by group of global thought
leaders which include Tony
O. Elumelu, Chairman, Donald
Kaberuka, President of the African Development Bank and
Carlos Lopes, Executive Secretary of the United Nations
Economic
for Africa.
07-Oct-11 Council 11.50
18-Dec-09
Others
are Dr. Rajiv13.50
Shah, Ad01-Apr-10
17.00 Agency
ministrator
of the US
17-Aug-10
10.00
for 09-Dec-10
International12.00
Development;
Matthew Bishop,
US
06-Jan-11
14.00
Business
Editor and13.00
New York
29-Sep-11
25-Oct-13
14.25 EconoBureau
Chief for The
13.00
mist;30-Sep-10
and Kola Karim,
CEO
30-Nov-12
18.00
of Shoreline
Energy
Group.
09-Apr-11
16.00
Also09-Sep-11
present was David
Rice,
18.00
a Professor
09-Sep-11 of African
16.00 Affairs
22-Sep-11
14.00
at New
York University
and
18-Oct-13
15.75 of the
the inaugural
Director
17-Feb-12
17.00
Institute,
who presented
the
14-Nov-13
15.25
framework for how the Institute is to engage with both private and public sectors across
11-Feb-13
10.20
the continent.

15-Oct-14
ventual take
off of 0.44the
31-Aug-15
1.32
Flour Mills
Food
Research
30-Sep-15
0.92
Centre at the
University
30-Jun-16
1.22 of
1.22
Ibadan (UI)30-Jun-16
received a major
2.95
boost with 19-Apr-17
the presentation
30-Jun-17
1.78
of an additional
N30
million
31-Dec-17
3.65
by Flour Mills
of
Nigeria
Plc
30-Sep-18
2.62
04-Oct-18
4.41
(FMN) to the
institution.
09-Dec-18 Managing
2.63
FMN’s Group
12-Dec-18
2.63
Director, Mr.
Paul Gbededo,
14-Feb-19
3.21
made the donation
during
02-Oct-19
3.27
the visit of22-Nov-19
a delegation
5.55 of
UI officials 12-Dec-19
to FMN’s new3.24
cor30-Sep-20
3.95
porate head27-Nov-20
office at Apapa,
6.56
Lagos.
31-Dec-20
6.65
With the31-Dec-20
new donation,
3.96
06-Jan-21 to a state3.99
FMN, according
572.90
ment, has committed a total
sum of N60 million to the
establishment
of the Flour
11.80
07-Oct-14
0.42
13.17
0.62
Mills Food 18-Dec-14
Research Centre,
2.00
31-Dec-14
0.65
having made an initial grant
15.00
17-Aug-15
0.80
of
N30
million
to
UI
last
year.
37.50
09-Dec-15
0.88
Managing0.96Di1.50 The Group
06-Jan-16
rector, Mr. Paul
Gbededo,2.40
who
15.00
29-Sep-16
5.53
2.47
received
the25-Oct-16
delegation in
the
20.00
30-Sep-17
company said
that FMN3.40
was
0.94
2.02
delighted
to30-Nov-17
partner with
UI
8.01
09-Apr-18
2.17
in
research initia3.63 the food09-Sep-18
2.34
tive,
which
would help
1.00
09-Sep-18
2.34 to
35.00
22-Sep-18 solutions
4.38 to
seek meaningful
3.00
18-Oct-18
2.45
post-harvest
losses in major
0.54
17-Feb-19
2.53
crops
grown
in
Nigeria
and
2.05
14-Nov-20
6.52
assist
sustainability
in
food
175.67
production.
He disclosed that FMN
12.00
Group had11-Feb-18
invested 3.77
over

12.00

Identity programme will boost our revenue –Chams
Rating/Agency

Description

Issuer

Issue Date

Coupon (%)

Issue Value ($'mm)

Maturity Date

Bid Yield (%)

FGN Eurobonds

C

hams PLC, an identity management and payments
FGN
system company quoted
BB-/Fitch;
on
the floor of the Nigerian
BB-/S&P
Stock
Exchange (NSE),
has
TOTAL OUTSTANDING
VALUE
said that the ongoing identity
Corporate Eurobonds
assurance
programmes being
B-/S&P; B/Fitch
AFREN PLC I
executed
in the private
and
GTBANK PLC I
public
sectors across
Nigeria
B+/S&P; B+/Fitch
PLC
will strengthen its GTBANK
business.
B+/S&P
ACCESS BANK PLC
The
programme,
according
B/S&P; B/Fitch
FIDELITY BANK PLC
toB/Fitch
the company in aAFREN
statement,
PLC
would
also
ensure
B+/Fitch; BB-/S&P
ZENITHfuture
BANK PLC
BB-/Fitch; B+/S&P
BB-/Fitch;
BB-/S&P

JAN 28, 2021
growth and 6.75
fuel
its increased
profitability5.13
inJUL
the
12,long-term,
2018
which will boost the com6.38 JUL 12, 2023
pany’s return on investment
for the overall benefits of its
shareholders.
The company had released
11.50 FEB 01, 2016
its financial
results for full
7.50 MAY 19, 2016
year 2013 recently
with 115.3
6.00 NOV 08, 2018
per cent growth
in its profit
7.25 JUL 25, 2017
after tax for 6.88
theMAY
financial
year
09, 2018
under review.
10.25 APR 08, 2019
Profit After
rose
6.25 APR 22,Tax
2019

from07-Oct-11
N87.5million6.75in 2012
to N188.5milon
in 5.13
the same
18-Dec-09
period. The result indicates
6.38 21.3 per
that 01-Apr-10
revenue grew by
cent, rising from N2.84billion
to N3.44billion, while its total
assets rose by 22.9 per cent to
01-Feb-11
11.50
N10.7billion
from N8.7billion
19-May-11
the previous
year. 7.50
08-Nov-13
Commenting
on 6.00
the result
25-Jul-12
7.25
at the
company’s 30th
Annual
09-May-13
6.88
General
(AGM) in
08-Apr-12Meeting 10.25
Lagos,
Chairman of
22-Apr-14
6.25 Chams

WEF: Nigeria needs indigenous
economic policy –Senator Adeyemi
in the present administration
to ensure that Nigeria was not
opened up to the European nations as a dumping ground for
their finished products.
"Our economic policy must
be indigenous, our minister of
finance and others who constitute the economic team of Mr.
President, should be looking
at the indigenous ways of improving our economy. We do
not need to encourage the purchase of private jets in hundreds, rather, we need a speed
train in Africa. We need trains
that will move goods and services of the people, the mass
transit system are needed to
galvanise our socio - economic
growth and improve our standard of living", he argued.
"When you take a look at the
policies of African nations, being dictated by the World Bank
and the IMF, they are not going
to tell you how to evolve a system that will accelerate your
own socio - economic activities
rather they will give you policies and ideas that will help
their own finished products
to be purchased by us. We will
now be dumping grounds for
the finished products from Europe", he stated.
Consequently, the politician implored the Minister of
Finance, Mrs Ngozi OkonjoIweala and other members
of President Goodluck Jonathan's Economic Team to do a
thorough brainstorming and

POLICY
Home grown economy
necessary
Chukwu David
ABUJA

A

s the World Economic
Forum holds in Nigeria,
Senator Smart Adeyemi,
representing Kogi West
Senatorial District, Smart
Adeyemi, has called on policy makers to evolve an indigenous economic policy that
would revolutionize the nation's economy.
Senator Adeyemi, who
made this call while speaking
with New Telegraph in Abuja,
advised Nigerian Government
not to depend on the policies
of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund,
IMF, pointing out that the two
world financial giants were
always seeking policies that
would favour their continent,
to the detriment of Africa.
He noted that the economic
policies of the World Bank and
the IMF, were never tailored
towards the development of
African economies, accusing
the two world financial institutions of not considering
the value system of different
countries in Africa.
Consequently, the legislator urged the policy makers

come up with an indigenous
economic policy that would
transform and stabilize the
economy.
Adeyemi, who is the Chairman, Senate Committee on the
Federal Capital Territory further called on the Federal Government to take advantage of
the World Economic Forum to
attract foreign investors, and
also bring back those who left
the country in the past.
He also expressed optimism
that the Forum would be a platform for creating employment
opportunities for the citizenry
after much investments had
been made in the country by
business men and women from
across the world.
The legislator argued that,
when the people become gainfully employed, they would not
go into insurgency or other
form of criminal activities as
are currently prevalent in the
country.
He attributed the current
insurgency and terrorism in
the country to the frustration
of people as a result of the
mass unemployment being
witnessed by the citizenry,
particularly the active population, who would do anything
criminal to earn a living, and
as a means of venting anger
and expressing their predicaments to the government.
"There should be investment so that people could work
to provide the basic goods and

Bid
Spot ($/N)
163.28
THE FIXINGS –NIBOR,NITTY and NIFEX of February
6,2014

Offer
163.38

P

ricewaterhouseCoopers
LLP and Nigeria’s government auditor will need 12
to 16 weeks to “clarify”
what happened to billions of
dollars of oil revenue alleged
to be missing, Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said.
The company based in New
York will help the government
of Africa’s biggest oil producer to find crude proceeds
probably not accounted for,
she told delegates today at the
World Economic Forum in the
Nigerian capital, Abuja.
Central bank Governor
Lamido Sanusi, 52, who said
there were missing funds, was
suspended for alleged “financial recklessness and misconduct,” Jonathan’s spokesman
Reuben Abati said in a Feb. 20

of temptation of somebody
considering suicide action,
would be greatly reduced".
"The World Economic Forum on Africa is an indigenous
African response to our needs
and aspirations. Asia did it
and that is why it can compete
with Europe now. The policies
of the International Monetary
Fund and World Bank are tailored towards the norms and
the value system of the perception of Europe, which is not
working in Africa."

statement. He was replaced by
his deputy, Sarah Alade, as acting governor. The announcement halted bond trading and
sent the naira to a record low.
Sanusi wrote to President
Goodluck Jonathan late last
year alleging the state-owned
Nigerian National Petroleum
Corp. had retained almost $50
billion in revenue that was
due to the government. He
later amended the figures to
$12 billion at a news briefing
with the finance minister before raising them to $20 billion
at a Feb. 4 meeting with lawmakers. The NNPC has denied
the allegations.
Jonathan’s office said that
under Sanusi’s watch the central bank was “distracted”
from its mandate.

services that are needed by
the people. It is not to open
our continent as a dumping
ground for products from Europe. We must evolve policies
and economic programmes
that will just be basically for
Africans.
"The World Economic Forum is a good develolment that
is coming at this time, because
more investors will come and
invest. Once people are gainfully employed, frustration
will not come in and the risk

Open-Buy-Back (OBB)
Overnight (O/N)

Rate (%)
11.33
11.63

NIFEX
Spot ($/N)

Bid
163.4000

Offer
163.5000
Source: FMDQ

Lagos business school before
the end of this year even as
it encourages Igbo entrepreneurs to learn how to sustain
their businesses during the
43rd Business Xpress Seminar held at Onitsha, Anambra
State.
Anambra Regional Manager of Diamond Bank Mr. Ikenna Nwabuwa, said the bank
is committed to making entrepreneurs succeed because
they were the driving force of
the economy,stressing that the
bank would lend her support
to every thriving and bankable
business.
According to him, “The
bank is building the capacity
of entrepreneurs to ensure
that they know how to manage
their businesses. Many people
have not succeeded in business
because they have not been applying principles that guarantee success; Diamond Bank plc
is filling this gap by organizing the BusinessXpress seminar around the country.”
Speaking on the timely intervention of the bank in the
Micro, Small and Medium

Scale Enterprises (MSMEs)
section of the economy, Adaeze
Umeh, Segment Head, MSMEs,
of the bank said that 95% of
Nigerian businesses are not
registered as such they would
not have access to facilities
from financial institutions.
She said that studies have
shown that many businesses
do not have proper documentations, which made it practically impossible for them to
receive financial support from
any financial institution.
“Asides registration of businesses, many MSMEs evades
taxation and other forms of
manipulations which impact
negatively on their businesses. MSMEs need to be credible;
they should be trustworthy and
be of good conduct,” she added.
Also,Mr Donatus Ebubeogu,
MD of Tiger Foods Nigeria
Limited, manufacturers of
spices, shared his experiences
in business and observed that a
successful business man must
be committed, honest and focused to achieve his dreams.
The Senior Consultant,
Mark-George Consultants,
John Ekpikhe, said, “MSMEs
are running a ground because
of the lifestyle of the owners.
It should develop overtime
with consistency and also be
willing to collaborate.”

op religious scholars working under the world’s
largest bloc of Islamic
countries said yesterday,
that they strongly condemn
the kidnapping of more than
270 Nigerian schoolgirls, calling for their immediate release.
The kidnappings, three
weeks ago, by the extremist
group, Boko Haram have led
to worldwide condemnation.
The group’s leader has used Islamic teachings as justification
for threatening to sell the girls
into slavery.
The Islamic Fiqh Academy,
which is based in Saudi Arabia
and dedicated to the advanced
study of Islam, said that this
“crime and other crimes committed by the likes of these
extremist organizations contradicts all humanitarian
principles and moral values
and violates the provisions of
the Quran and Sunnah,” or
teachings of the Prophet Muhammad.
The academy is part of the
Organization of Islamic Co-

operation, which is comprised
of some 57 Muslim majority
member-nations.
Also yesterday, the OIC’s Independent Permanent Human
Rights Commission said Boko
Haram is misguided to claim

that the abduction of the girls
and the threat to sell them off
as slaves is in conformity with
the injunctions of Islam.
The rights body described
the abduction of the schoolgirls
as a “barbaric act”.

“Right to education is a fundamental human right, and is
in consonance with the basic tenets of Islam,” the rights body
said. Muslims around the world
have spoken out against the kidnappings.

Mia Kuumba, of the District of Columbia, brandishes a wooden stick during a rally in front of the Nigerian embassy in
northwest Washington, on Tuesday, protesting the kidnapping over 200 teenage schoolgirls, abducted from a school in the
remote northeast of Nigeria three weeks ago.
PHOTO: AP/Manuel Balce Ceneta

South Africa’s ANC rolls to victory

T

he ruling African National Congress (ANC) swept
toward victory in South
Africa’s fifth post-apartheid
election yesterday, handing
President Jacob Zuma the
clout to push through probusiness reforms in the face
of union and leftist opposition.
Burdened with sluggish
economic growth and damaging strikes in his first term,
the scandal-plagued Zuma
has devoted less and less
time over the last year to the
wishes of unions, whose long
walkouts have hit confidence
in Africa’s most developed
economy. He has also batted
away opposition from the far
left, squelching some expectations the Economic Freedom
Fighters (EFF) - led by his former protégé Julius Malema would ride a wave of populist
anger over widespread poverty and unemployment.
The ANC, the liberation
movement that swept to power two decades ago under the
leadership of Nelson Mandela, had won 63.7 percent of
Wednesday’s vote with nearly
two-thirds of districts counted, the Independent Electoral
Commission (IEC) said. “With

this, he is much less beholden
to the left,”
Cape Town-based political
analyst Nic Borain said, adding he expected Zuma to appoint a technocrat cabinet with
the express mandate to roll out
policies to boost growth.
“There’s no deeply insightful change, but the bottom line
is that by 2019 they are going to
have to be growing this economy and making sure they can
still raise tax revenue.”
Zuma hinted this week that
the ANC needed to take a more
pro-business tack, accusing
the main platinum union of
irresponsibility for dragging
out a four-month wage strike,

and he hinted at reforms in the
pipeline.
“We need an overwhelming majority so that we can
change certain things so that
we can move faster,” Zuma told
a news conference. “There are
things you need to remove so
you can move faster. I won’t be
specific.”
One influential minister
said the ANC would focus on
policies adopted at a 2012 leadership conference, when it rejected “wholesale nationalization” of industries and sought
to quell investor concerns with
business-friendly pronouncements.
“The policies of the new

coming government, the principles that will provide the
framework for the new administration, have already been set
out,” Public Enterprises Minister Malusi Gigaba told Reuters.
“That is what we are going to implement. The ANC’s
nearest rival, the Democratic
Alliance, was on 22.1 percent,
upholding poll predictions the
party would improve on the
16.7 percent it won five years
ago as it gradually sheds its
image as the political home
of privileged minority whites.
The militant EFF, launched by
Malema after he was expelled
from the ANC in 2012, was in
third place with 4.9 percent.

South Korea accuses North of sending
drones to border

S

outh Korea announced yesterday that it had reached
the conclusion that three
surveillance drones found
near the border belonged to
North Korea. A joint U.S. and
South Korean probe discovered flight plans stored on the
unmanned crafts that traced
back to locations in North Korea.
The discovery has fueled

worry that the secretive and erratic northern country might
soon use armed drones against
South Korea.
In response, Seoul’s Defence
Ministry announced that it had
increased airspace surveillance
along the inter-Korean border
and readied surface-to-air artillery. Two of the three drones,
discovered in late March and
early April, had photos on them

matching their flight plans,
while the data on the third
could not be recovered.
According to the ministry,
the plans were to photograph
South Korean military facilities. According to Reuters,
some of the drone components
were manufactured in China,
Japan, the Czech Republic and
the United States. But North
Korea denied any involvement.

Gross human
rights abuses
seen in
South Sudan
–Report

H

orrific, ethnically motivated attacks of physical and sexual violence
launched in South Sudan
by warring parties constitute war crimes and crimes
against humanity, Amnesty
International said yesterday,
while a new U.N. report said
more than 300 men from one
ethnic group were slaughtered in one incident.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon said during a visit to
South Sudan this week that
the country has seen serious
human rights violations. The
U.N. report said that gross violations of human rights and
international humanitarian
law have been committed.
Much of the violence has
been ethnic in nature and
carried out by troops loyal to
President Salva Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, and rebels loyal to
former Vice President Riek
Machar, an ethnic Nuer. The
two men are scheduled to
meet for face-to-face talks in
Ethiopia today.
If the meeting happens, it
would represent the biggest
breakthrough since fighting
broke out in December. Thousands of people have been
killed and 1.3 million have fled
their homes. Ban had been
pressing for a month-long
cease-fire beginning Wednesday so that residents could
return home and plant crops,
but South Sudan’s military
spokesman, Col. Philip Aguer,
said yesterday that he had no
information on a cease-fire being ordered.
Aid groups fear that if residents don’t plant crops this
month, the country could face
mass hunger or famine. The
U.N. report documents the
killings of “at least 300 Nuer
men” in a neighbourhood of
the capital, Juba, the day after
the violence broke out. The
report said that bodies from
many attacks were taken to
unknown disposal sites.
Nuers across Juba were targeted by armed attackers wearing military and police uniforms, the U.N. report said. The
U.N. representative in South
Sudan, Hilde F. Johnson, said
accountability for the crimes is
critical to ending the legacy of
impunity in South Sudan and
preventing similar atrocities in
the future.

resident of the Nigerian
Wrestling Federation Daniel Igali and Toronto Raptors General Manager Masai
Ujiri has added their voices to
the call for the freedom of over
200 schoolgirls who were abducted last month by the Boko

Haram, who have threatened to
sell them as sex slaves.
The Bayelsa-born freestyle
wrestling gold medallist for
Canada at the 2000 Olympics
condemn the act while expressing frustration on the act by the
captors.
“This is bestiality at the high-

est proportions. Those people
responsible are cowards. I am
so sickened by these beasts and
extremely ashamed of their
despicable acts, Igali told QMI
Agency.
He added, “What happened
to those girls is so unfortunate.
We are all praying for their

safe release.The atmosphere
here is tense. There is a lot of
concern and worry for what is
happening in certain parts of
the country.”
Toronto Raptors, Masai Ujiri, a native of Zaria in Kaduna
state described the abduction
CONTINUED ON PAGE 54

SportL

NEW TELEGRAPH

Baruwa

www.newtelegraphonline.com/Sport

WITH Tobi Emmanuel

0805 400 5669

ifestyle

Former Super Eagles goalkeeper

F

ormer Junior international
and founder Hoffnung sports
foundation Adedapo Akiode
says the foundation is determined
to improve Table Tennis in the
country.
Akiode said the HSF intend to
spread the gospel of grassroots
sport development, by donating
table tennis rubber sheets, balls
and textiles to grassroots talents
in some states in the country.
The former junior international revealed that six states of the
federation will benefit from the
donation of Table Tennis equipment.
He revealed that the foundation
is set to organise a Table Tennis
tournament for schools, where talents will be scouted and nurtured
with education and sports.
The foundation also plans to
bring German legend Olga Nemes
and her coaching crew into the
country to help train Nigerian
Table Tennis coaches.

eijing Olympics bronze
medalist, Chika Chukwumerije, returned to
winning ways to settle for
bronze medal despite copping an ankle injury on his
way to the semifinal at the
African Senior Taekwondo
Championships held in Tunisia.
Chika alongside his compatriots, Sunday Onofe and Joy
Ekhator, claimed three medals
as well as garnered over 60.48
points in total to improve their
world ratings.
140 athletes from 18 African
countries took part in three-day
tournament, which served as an
avenue for athletes to gain crucial word ranking points. This
plays a key role for Rio 2016
Olympics qualification.
The El-Complex De Menza
Arena in Tunis hosted the competition with three-time Olympian, Chika Chukwumerije,
defying the massive home sup-

lAs Nigeria garner points for world rating
ports his opponent - Tunisia’s
Abdelrahim Abidi-got to win
his first fight at 10-3.
He however copped an ankle
injury during the fight but he
was able to hold sway to win the
encounter.
Aware of what is ahead of

him when the World Taekwondo Federation organised Grand
Prix Olympics series holding in
China, Chukwumerije had to
withdraw from the semifinal tie
to settle for points, which also
earned him 14.40 points in the
rankings.

To also pick bronze medal,
Onofe floored Hama Alzouma
of Niger Republic in the round
of 16, beat Fiston Lumu Tshimanga of Democratic Republic
of Congo in the quarterfinals,
before losing to number one
seed in -80kg, Issam Chernoubi
of Morocco (8 – 5).

Nigeria begins trials for World Chess Olympiad
Mercy Jacob

T

he Media Centre of National Stadium in Lagos
is expected to bubble on
Friday as the World Chess
Olympiad trials organised
by Nigeria Chess Federation
begins with all attention focused on Oyeyemi Fawole.
Fawole, who is the current
National champion is yet to
represent the country at any
major international competition but finally launched
himself on the big stage
after winning the last Nigeria Breweries International

Open Chess Championship
in Lagos. Since then, he has
made an impressive performance in some rated tournaments in Europe early this
year.
On Friday, when the nine
round Swiss event paring
gets underway, Fawole has
other notable players to contend with during the threeday first stage of the trials
that will end on Saturday.
Some of the invited male
players includes; Benjamin
Omorere, Hakeem Edunwale, Kolade Onabogun, Onovughe Ochuko, Emmanuel

Maduagwan and Oladapo
Adu while Doris Adebayo,
Ogechi Emmanuel, Nkem
Omishogbon and Olabisi
Rabiu top the list of the female team.
The Technical Director
of the federation, Bode Durotoye, said, “We are using
the Olympiad time control
over eight round Swiss event
pairing and Bucholz would
be used to break the ties after
which 10 players each from
male and female will qualify
for the final round of the trials
which will come up in Ibadan
next month,” Durotoye said.

53

Sanctity of Truth

Friday, May 9, 2014

Real lack champion
attitude –Alonso

S

Alonso (right)

Messi hits out
at transfer lies

L

ionel Messi has reacted
to continuing speculation
over his future at Barcelona
by saying that “almost” all the
stories which have emerged recently are false.
Messi’s current contract ends
in June 2018 and contains a release
clause of 250 million euros. Talks on
an improved deal have been ongoing
since last autumn, and have been
accompanied by regular leaks to
and spin in the Catalan and Spanish sports press.
Recent days have seen a cranking
up of the rumours in both Barce-

lona and Madrid, with a report widely circulated that
his father Jorge Messi had
demanded Barca both sign
Manchester City attacker Sergio
Aguero and renew the contract
of current reserve goalkeeper
Jose Pinto before his son would
sign any new contract with the
club.
In a sensational story on
Thursday morning Madridbased AS claimed that Barca’s
board have seriously considered
selling the four-time Ballon D’Or
winner after the summer’s World
Cup for 250 million euros, with a
senior club figure even emailing
a suggestion to Messi Snr that his

Bender quashes EPL move talk

L

ars Bender has dealt Arsenal a crushing blow by
insisting he doesn’t think
he’s ready to make the step
up from Bayer Leverkusen.
Bender has been linked
with a £20million move
away from the Bundesliga
outfit amid growing speculation Arsene Wenger will
resurrect his interest in
him. But the 25-year-old

pain midfielder Xabi
Alonso has attacked Real
Madrid’s attitude after
his team appeared to blow
their La Liga title hopes, putting leaders Atletico Madrid in
pole position with two games
to go.
After Atletico’s defeat at Levante
last weekend, third-placed Real
could only muster a draw at home
to Valencia and then pick up a point
at Valladolid on Wednesday, leaving
Carlo Ancelotti’s men four points
off the pacesetters.
“We didn’t have the necessary
concentration for a game of this
importance. After going ahead
(through Sergio Ramos) we didn’t

has poured cold water on
the transfer talk and is fully focussed on developing at
Leverkusen.
“I signed my new contract until 2019, and that
should have told everyone
how happy I am at Leverkusen.
“I feel settled here and
see no reason to change anything.”

have the right intensity and they
got a valuable draw,” Alonso told
reporters following the Valladolid
clash.
“I hope this doesn’t happen
again because it was not the
sort of game where we can afford to be relaxed. The league
is practically over for us as we
need some unlikely results to
happen but we have to hope.
“Obviously at this stage of
the season you have to put up
with injuries,” said Alonso
ahead of Sunday’s trip to Celta
Vigo. “We had a number of problems but with those who were out
on the pitch we had sufficient to
win.”

Ronaldo’ll be fit
– Ancelotti

Ronaldo (middle)

H

ead coach Carlo Ancelotti is hopeful Cristiano Ronaldo will be fighting fit and ready to help Real Madrid clinch the two victories they need
to stay alive in the Primera Division
title race.
He told realmadrid.com: “We will see
over the coming days. We don’t think Cristiano Ronaldo has a big problem. He was
not very comfortable but there was no tear.”

Ozil pleased with debut
Arsenal season

M

esut Ozil says he is
“satisfied” with how
his first season in
the Premier League with
Arsenal has gone, after
joining the club from Real
Madrid in August.
The Gunners’ record signing got off to a strong start on
his arrival in England scoring two goals in his first five
games. However, Ozil has
only managed four more
league goals this season and
came in for criticism for his
performances in the Champions League - but the 25-yearold is content with his form.
“I had ups and downs, but I
am satisfied. Arsenal haven’t
won a title for 10 years and, in

Messi (left)

son could receive 10 percent of a transfer fee if a move was accepted.
The 26-year-old told reporters at a
commercial event on Thursday afternoon that most of what was published
about him was not to be believed.

Cavani not for sale

P

aris Saint Germain chief Nasser al-Khelaifi
has reiterated that the club are not going to let
Edinson Cavani leave this summer.
Cavani’s future has been called into question in
recent months, with the player himself admitting
to being frustrated at playing wide on the right although he has still managed 16 goals in 25 starts.
Premier League duo Manchester United and
Chelsea have both been strongly linked, but
PSG are standing firm over the Uruguay international.

one week we can win the FA
Cup. It would the third cup
win in the third country for
me,” he told Bild.
“Sometimes the sparks
fly. I have to deal with it. In
Munich, I was injured after
three minutes but I wanted
to keep on playing. I am satisfied with my first season.”

Ozil

Wilshere set to return

J

ack Wilshere could make his Arsenal return on Sunday,
Arsene Wenger has confirmed. The England midfielder
has not played since fracturing a bone in his foot while on
international duty in March.
“We have everybody who played against West Brom available,” the Arsenal manager said. “We could have the return of
Aaron Ramsey and Wilshere could be in the squad as well.”

fter her scintillating performance at the2014 Jamaica
International Invitational
last weekend, Nigeria’s queen of
the track, Blessing Okagbare will
be up against reigning World and
Olympic 100m champion ShellyAnn Fraser-Pryce at
the
2014 IAAF Diamond League campaign on Friday 9 May (today) in
Doha.
The African 100m record holder powered home in 11.19 seconds
to win ahead of Jamaican pair of

Olympian Kerron Stewart, who
clocked 11.32 seconds and Carrie
Russell, 11.46 seconds inside the
National Stadium in Kingston,
Jamaica.
Okagbare will be running side
by side the Olympic champion,
running on Lane four while Okagbare will be starting from Lane.
According to Fraser-Pryce; “I
enjoy running in Doha. The stadium is close and intimate which
makes you feel connected with the
fans.”
Other athletes competing on
the track with the two champions

Ifeanyi Ibeh
ollowing the court invasion by
their supporters in the April 25
DSTv Premier League encounter against Mark Mentors, the Nigeria Basketball Federation has fined
Gombe Bulls the sum of N150,000
with a strong warning against a future recurrence.
The NBBF in a statement said
that it took the decision based on the
“unlawful disruption of the game
by way of invasion of the playing
court by (Gombe Bull’s) supporters
as well as an attempted physical assault of one of the match referees.”
Stressing that the DSTv Basket-

ball League has no tolerance for any
form of violence or hooliganism, the
NBBF warned the club that it “will
enforce, without fear or favour, severe
sanctions to checkmate such tendencies.”
The statement added that Gombe
Bulls are now placed on notice and
that such actions shall not be tolerated from its supporters or anyone connected to it and will without hesitation, “banish your team to play
its home games away at a neutral
venue acceptable to the federation or out rightly ban your team
from the league to serve as example to teams that employ unfair,
unlawful and unacceptable tactics
to win games at home.”

54 SPORT

Sanctity of Truth

Friday, May 9, 2014

Beckenbauer, Moore,
Chukwu inspired me -Keshi
Emmanuel Tobi

S

uper Eagles coach, Stephen has said that the
trio of German legend,
Frank Beckenbauer, late
England Captain, Bobby
Moore, and a former Nigerian Captain, Christian
Chukwu influenced his
playing pattern during
his playing days.
Speaking on AIPS website, Keshi explained his
passion for the trio whom
he said helped him to
reach the peak of his
football career.
“When I was growing
up, I had three idols. They
were playing in the same
position and I was studying them. One of them
was Frank Beckenbauer.
The others were Bobby
Moore, the late England
Captain, and a former
Nigerian Captain that I
took over from, Christian
Chukwu,” he said.
The 2013 AFCON winning coach added that the
influence of this trio on

Keshi was not limited to
their playing style as he
had to settle for one of
their shirts number.
“Bobby Moore wore
number six. Beckenbaner had number 4 and
Chukwu was number
5. I had seen their style
of play and I wanted to
be part of them. I had a
coach from Yugoslavia.
I was in the junior team
then and he said to me:
Hey, Keshi I want you to
wear number four.
“I looked at him and
wondered how he knew
that I was contemplating on which number to
wear. I said coach you
said number 4? That was
how I just picked number
four.”
Keshi however expressed
his desire to see his kids to
continue with the traditional number 4 sating that,
“One of my sons if he’s playing, he wants to wear number 4. My daughter if she’s
playing, she will also wear
number 4.

Aminu, Toro killed Nigerian
league – Stores boss
Vincent Eboigbe

S

tationery Stores Chairman
Tilewa Adebajo, has declared
that former Nigeria Football
Association Chairman and
General Secretary, Abdulmumuni
Aminu and Sani Toro respectively,
are responsible for the decline suffered by Nigerian league.
Both administrators were in
charge at the Football House in the
‘90s and Adebajo insisted that it
was during their watch that the issue of boardroom points crept into
the league, when matches hitherto
won and lost on the pitch, were now
decided in the boardroom.

“Aminu and Toro were the architects of the destruction of the
Nigerian league; they started playing politics with the league, using
boardroom points to decide the
winners of the league at the end of
the season. That was how they relegated Stationery Stores. I decided
then that Nigerian league was dead
and I told them that they’ve killed
the game,” Adebayo told New Telegraph.
“You’ll recall that it was the
league that was professionalised
in 1990 that ensured we made it to
the World Cup in the United States
in 1994 and then four years later in
France, but the game experienced

as unfortunate.
“What is happening in Nigeria is an
absolute atrocity,” he said. “For me to
grow up in northern Nigeria and see
what is happening with the abducted
kids and women there, I have a daughter, I have a wife. I have a mom and sister that still live in Nigeria. For what
is going on there, it is something that,
I think, the whole world has to look
at and we have to address strongly.”
He further stressed that, “In my
position, I honestly want to be outspoken about it because I think it’s
where I grew up and it should not
be happening. I’m passionate about
where I come from and what happens
to young kids and people that deserve
opportunity.”

Nigeria move up in FIFA
world rankings

Ajibade Olusesan

N

igeria continued to
make marginal ranking progress, building on from last month’s
advancement by moving
up one place to 44th in the
world.
But the improvement
was not enough to move
the country up in the continental rankings, as they
stay outside of the top
five, below Côte d’Ivoire,
Egypt, Algeria, Ghana
and Cape Verde.
World Cup group rivals
Bosnia gained no points
and remained on 25th

place.
Iran also made no
progress and remains
Asia’s top team on 37th
in the rankings, while
Argentina continued
their slide by dropping
one place to 7th in the
world, following from
their three-spot drop of
last month.
AFRICA’s Top 10:
1st Côte d’Ivoire (21)
2nd Egypt (24) 3rd Algeria (25) 4th Ghana (38)
5th Cape Verde Islands
(42) 6th Nigeria (44) 7th
Tunisia (49) 8th Cameroon (50) 9th Guinea (51)
10th Mali (59).

Fengor Ogude chasing
Spain’s Andre Iniesta

Charles Ogundiya

S

uper Eagles captain Joseph Yobo
has hailed the provisional World
Cup list released by chief coach
Stephen Keshi onn Tuesday in Abuja.
His friend and confidant, Pastor
Chibueze Ndubueze said Yobo was
thrilled with the blend of youth and
experience in the list.

Tanzania FA upbeat on Flying Eagles’ defeat
Ifeanyi Ibeh’

T

HE Tanzania Football Federation (TFF) has expressed
confidence in the ability of
the Under-20 national team,
Ngorongoro Heroes, to defeat
Nigeria’s Flying Eagles in this
weekend’s 2015 Africa Youth
Championship qualifier billed
for Dar es Salaam.
The Heroes will play host to
Nigeria’s Flying Eagles in the
final qualifying round, first leg

a downward slide when they introduced corruption into the whole
thing.”
Adebajo however, noted that with
the measures introduced by the
League Management Committee, the
body charged with running the league
in the country, there is ‘light at the end
of the tunnel,’ hence the return of Stationery Stores to the league.
“The reason we decided to be part
of the league again, is the LMC. When
Nduka Irabor started the body and
put measures and structures in
place to ensure that the league can
run professionally, I knew it was
time we got involved again,” Adebajo said.

match at the National Stadium
in Dar es Salaam on Sunday.
TFF Media and Communication Officer, Boniface Wambura, said the Heroes have prepared well for the encounter
and will not be intimidated by
Nigerian’s status as continental powerhouse.
“We are satisfied with
preparations and we’re looking forward to getting a positive result against Nigeria. I
believe our boys are ready for

battle,” he said.
Wambura said the country’s football governing body
has taken all possible steps to
ensure the team was ready and
performs at its peak and this
includes building the players’
confidence. The TFF official
made a plea to Tanzanians to
rally behind the Heroes as they
aim to take a good lead at home
to put themselves in good position to reach their first ever AYC
finals.

Yobo hails World Cup list
Ndubueze said; “You know
this will be Joe’s third World
Cup and in the previous World
Cups he participated, he featured in all Nigeria’s matches,
so he knows what it takes to succeed at that level of football. Immediately the list was released,
I spoke with him and he was so
thrilled with the composition.
“Joe is particularly happy
that there is a mixture of youth
and experience in the team.

Yobo

These are two ingredients
needed for a team to do well at
international level. That was a
missing link at the Confederations Cup last year. You know
the younger players need the
guidance of the more experienced players while the older
ones will need the mobility of
the younger ones”.
Ndubueze further allayed
fears over Yobo’s fitness.
“He has fully recovered from
injury and he is fit now. I just
spoke with him this afternoon
when he returned from training. He should play some part
against Arsenal this weekend.
But you will actually see his
level of fitness when the camp
opens during the pre-World Cup
friendlies. It is his last World
Cup and he wants it to be a
memorable one,” he said.

overnor, Chibuike
Amaechi, has offered
a recipe for the problem of insurgency,
kidnappings, and other
social vices that are currently assailing Nigeria.
He said they could be
stemmed through poverty
reduction and creation of
jobs for the teeming unemployed in the country.
Amaechi, who made
the observation when
the Senate Committee
on Privatization and
Commercialization paid
him a courtesy visit at
Government House, Port
Harcourt, shortly after a
facility tour of Federal
Government-owned parastatals and agencies in
Rivers State, pointed out
that these vices could be
linked to poverty and un-

employment in the land.
He said that his administration started creating
employment opportunities when he assumed
office in 2007 by building
over 140 primary health
centres and over 300 model primary schools, which
created job opportunities
in the state.
He said; “The current
problem we are having in
Nigeria is tied to poverty
and unemployment. I believe that one solution to
this insurgency is education and employment. The
easiest employment is
farming, because, a large
number of them are not
educated and unskilled.
"I applied it here in Rivers State and it worked.
Most of them who were
given guns by the exmilitants, when we asked
them, they told us that
their parents could not
train them. That is why
we introduced free education and free healthcare programmes. And
it occurred to us that to
address this problem, we
need social policing, and
while you are doing physi-

cal policing, you must also
do social and economic policing.
"And to do that, we
started creating employment opportunities by
building over 140 Primary
Healthcare Centres and
over 300 Model Primary
Schools. If you visit these
projects, there is no way
you will not see up to at
least 50 workers in each
of the schools.
“We created the banana
farms that has created
jobs for over 2000 persons.
We revived the Risonpalm. It was dead when we
came, and it has employed
over 5,000 workers. Also,
the Songhai Farm has employed over 2,000 workers,
while Five Fish Farms in
strategic locations have
been completed.
"We have done all that
to create employment opportunities for our people.
I am very sure that the
establishment of farms
will go a long way to reduce the recruitment of
Boko Haram members.
The Federal Government
must take education, employment and reduction

of poverty as priority. We
do appreciate the challenges the Federal Government is facing now",
he emphasized.
The Governor, however
,said that his administration is perfecting measures to ensure 24 hours
regular power supply in
the state and expressed
dismay over the inability
of the Federal Government to pay what is due
to the state government on
its investment to improve
power supply in the state.
The Chairman, Senate
Committee on Privatization and Commercialization, Senator Olugbenga
Obadara, said they were
in Rivers State to see ongoing activities in the
privatization sector of
the Federal Government,
access the retrenchment
of workers in the labour
market and seek ways of
bridging the gap.
Obadara said; “When
private investors buy
these companies from government, you will find out
that in no distance time,
people working in those
companies are returned to

the labour market unemployed. The consequences
is part of the outcome of
restiveness.
"We have been to Indorama Petro-chemicals,
Eleme where the state
has ten per cent. In all of
these, what we decided not
to do is to seat at Abuja
and call the government
agencies to come and

show us papers that are
not easily verifiable. As
a responsible committee and engine room of
government, we want to
make sure, we interact
with them. We want to
see their challenges, the
agreement they signed
and their financial responsibilities," the Senator said.

Call AU meeting on Boko Haram,
Aregbesola tells Jonathan

A

s the search for the
abducted Chibok girls
assumed an international dimension, the
Governor of the State of
Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, has called on the
Federal Government to
take an affirmative action against the nation's
immediate neighbouring
countries.
Aregbesola made the
call in Osogbo yesterday,
when women in the state
led by the First Lady, Mrs.
Sherifat Aregbesola, and
students in the tertiary institutions under the aegis
of National Association
of Osun State Students
(NASS), staged a 'Free
Our Children' protest to
the Governor's office.
The governor, who said
the abduction saga has
gone beyond Nigeria's
problem alone, disclosed
that Borno State shares
border with Cameroun,
Niger and Chad and that
there is probability that
the insurgents may be re-

ceiving supports from the
countries.
He urged President
Goodluck Jonathan to
call on the African Union
to call a meeting, which
will mandate these three
countries to cooperate
with Nigeria in rooting
out insurgency in that
axis.
He averred that Nigeria should declare war on
whichever country that
refuses to abide by such
resolution and cooperate
with it.
He described as terrible, the present situation the nation has been
thrown by the insurgents,
saying the abduction of
over 273 high school girls
is a tragedy of huge proportion.
"The problem is now
beyond Nigeria alone.
I urge the President to
co-opt the nation's neighbours, particularly Cameroun, Niger and Chad,
who share border with
Borno State.

he Christian legislators Fellowship International, CLFI, yesterday asked God for wisdom
and divine guidance for
President Goodluck Jonathan. They also prayed for
members of his cabinet to
take right decisions that
would lead to the rescue
of the abducted school
girls in Borno State.
This was contained
in a statement issued in
Abuja by the Fellowship's
President, Senator Uche
Chukwumerije. This was
part of the contributions

of the Christian lawmakers towards the rescue of
the abducted teenagers,
who have been in the captivity of the Boko Haram
insurgents for more than
three weeks.
This came on the heels
of offer of assistance from
the international community. The United States of
America, Britain, China
and France have offered
to send military personnel and technological facilities that would help in
the search for and rescue
of the over 200 school girls
from their captivity.
The lawmakers, who
lamented the security

challenges devastating
the nation at the moment,
described it as a watershed in the history of the
country.
They expressed hope
that rather than escalating the already volatile
situation, the foreign
supports would end all
forms of insurgency in
the country.
They also noted with
regret that the crisis in
the North eastern part of
the country, particularly
the terror and palpable
fear being created by the
Boko Haram insurgents
in the hearts of Nigerians, is a matter of great

concern.
The lawmakers urged
the entire citizenry to
pray and fast for the
speedy resolution of the
unhealthy security situation in the country, especially the abduction
of the female students in
Chibok.
They commended the
efforts of the government so far, the military
and other security agencies aimed at recovering
the abducted girls from
the grip of the terrorists,
stressing that "all hands
should be on deck to make
the foreign supports a success".

delegate to the on-going National Conference, Chief Sergeant
Chidi Awuse, has said the
people of the South-South
geopolitical zone, are not
ready to negotiate the second term bid of President
Goodluck Jonathan, with
any other part of Nigeria.
He also observed that
current happenings in the
North were being blown
out of proportion due to
the fact that Jonathan, an
indigene of the Niger Delta region, is the President
of the country.
Awuse spoke in Port
Harcourt yesterday at
the Niger Delta Consultative meeting with delegates to the National
Conference, organised by
the Pan-Niger Delta Conference (PNDC).
He condemned the
tendency of daring the
president and attempts
to intimidate him , saying, "We, the people of the
South-South geopolitical
zone of Nigeria, are not
ready to negotiate the
Presidency of this country with anyone. There

is impunity; people come
into Abuja and bomb and
kill people in Nyanya, just
to say to President Jonathan, what can you do?”.
He added, "Whatever
they are doing is to blackmail President Jonathan.
They no longer respect the
office of the President of
this country. The office
of the President must be
respected; President Jonathan must be respected
because during their own
time, we respected the office.
"Wherever you are,
remember that Nigeria
is one; remember that
President Jonathan is for
all Nigerians, but we must
be one Nigeria based on
peace, equity and justice."
Awuse, who is also a
chieftain of the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP),
disclosed that delegates to
the National Conference,
from the South-South
zone, unanimously agreed
that the federating units
in Nigerian system of government should remain
the states, as against the
return to the regional government being canvassed
by delegates from other
parts of the country.

World Record

On Marble

It’s not what you look at that
matters, it’s what you see.

Sanctity of Truth

– Henry David Thoreau

w w w. new tel eg rap ho nl i ne. co m

Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon and the truth – Buddha
FRIday, MAY 9, 2014

N150

From 29-31 August 2006, Veljko Rogosic
swam 225km across the Adriatic Sea
from Grado to Riccione (both Italy), the
longest distance ever swum without
flippers in open sea Sea .The attempt
took him 50 hours 10 mins

Reality check mode beckons
O
Graffiti
nce in a while, a reality check goes
a long way to put things in a proper
perspective. It becomes a needful
proposition like that occasional visit
to the doctor for a general check up. In both
situations the assessment is done, though
through different processes, without any
sentiments. It is also what a crisis manager
would recommend when Murphy’s Law
appears to be intruding. Sometimes the
outcome can be unpleasant as hopes and
dreams could be shattered.
For Nigeria, everything seems to be
increasingly coming under the spell of
Murphy’s Law. The privatisation exercise
continues to throw up strange manifestations which are far from the touted rosy
promises. A typical example being the
current state of electricity supply. The new
regime of distribution and generation companies appears more than eager to unleash
an unbridled profiteering agenda, while offering nothing tangible by way of improved
service to keep blackouts at bay. As usual
the glib explanations are being churned
out with even more promises to whet our
gullibility.
Not even the poster personality of privatisation appears to be spared the calamity spell. Disturbingly, the services on offer
by the telecommunication companies are
deteriorating. The porting solution has
turned out to be another snake oil charade
forced down the throats of consumers at
a huge cost with no meaningful explanations.
Beyond that terrain, there is even something more critical that demands a calculated assessment right now. Last week, the
United States of America revealed that it
has given military funding assistance to
Nigeria to the tune of $20 million dollars
or N3.176 billion since 2012, to fight Boko
Haram. James F. Entwistle, the U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria made the disclosure soon
after the second bomb blast at Nyanya, and
claimed the substantial monetary support
had been under-reported.
In diplomat speak, this means the receiver had not made any effort to acknowledge the donation publicly. Apart from the
amount given, Entwistle said the U.S. had
offered other forms of assistance in the
fight against Boko Haram, including professionalizing Nigeria’s military, investigating bomb sites and enhancing forensic
capacity.
The timing of the disclosure by Entwistle is telling. Perhaps being a diplomat, that
is his own way of expressing outrage after doing a reality check. In other words
by making this shocking revelation, apart
from sending a message to his home office,
he is also passing the buck to Nigerians to

EMMAN USMAN SHEHU
prohabe@hotmail.com - 08051614969 (sms only)

ask salient questions. This means we are at
a point where a reality check is an urgent
priority.
Today, Nigeria is ranked as the seventh
country in the world in terms of terrorism.
This additional unenviable record may
even worsen given the unfolding dynamics
of insecurity. In the light of Entwistle’s revelation, the undisguised question is what
happened to the N3.176 billion? Perhaps
a clue can be gleaned from the controversial CCTV project which has consumed
a staggering N76 billion without contributing to solving one single criminal act.
The funding for this bogus project did not
come from Uncle Sam, but through a loan
from the Chinese Exim bank. Even when
a few discerning citizens raised objections
about the loan and the involvement of ZTE,
a Chinese company with an unwholesome
track record, the project proceeded without a damn. Three years down the line, and
with the outrage following the audacious
Nyanya twin-bombing, the truth is that
the CCTV project has been a carefully orchestrated scam. As usual, after the flurry
of seeming anxiety and raised eyebrows
by officialdom, followed by the mandatory
threat of getting to the root of the rip-off, it
will quietly go down the sink-hole.
While that happens, more citizens will
be at the receiving end, as the insecurity
thrives, piggy-backing on corruption. The
more one tries to assess the situation, the
more it becomes clear that the greatest
conspiracy against the country is by those
saddled with the responsibility of protecting the citizentry. Nothing explains it better
than this statement by the security specialist, Gordon Duff: “Civil war in Nigeria is big
business, a civil war planned and executed
with full complicity by many of those now
in Abuja working to supposedly help protect Nigeria…Key officials in Nigeria were
informed, very specifically, of the timeline
for terrorist bombings, training and supplying Boko Haram and flooding the region
with jihadists… We watched intelligence
agencies from Europe and ‘elsewhere’ flood
into Niger under the guise of dealing with
the conflict in Mali. While there, they were
pouring weapons into Nigeria and supporting terror cells throughout the country.”

Then this damning clincher: “…of course,
the same groups were also sitting in hotels
in Abuja, with suitcases of cash to bribe
officials, ready to make fat contracts to
fight the terrorists they had sent.” Duff’s
claims since it became public knowledge
last year, has never been officially rebutted
by the same leadership he claims he had
adequately informed at a security meeting
in Abuja.
These people have forgotten that given
their positions, they have the responsibility
of securing the lives and properties of the
citizenry. They have ignored the fact that being in charge of national security is not an
avenue for dubious contracts. As a scholar
rightly noted: “…it is a condition where the
most cherished values, ideas, beliefs, ways
of life, institutions of governance and the
well-being of a nation are protected and
continuously strengthened. This implies
that security is a holistic concept that involves the protection of lives and property. It
encompasses a network of armed and civil
forces that secure the citizens not only from
external attacks but also from devastating
internal disturbances, starvation, diseases,
homelessness, environmental degradation
and socio-economic injustices.”
The situation right now is a clear vote of
no confidence on the country’s leadership.
It is alarming that in almost four years, for
instance, a rag-tag sect has evolved into a
dynamic terror group with the flexibility
of manipulating tactics and picking targets
at its convenience. There are so many examples of the deadliness of this evolution.
One clear case is its adeptness at using Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs).
Apart from the October 1, 2010 bomb blast
in Abuja, which remains mired in controversy as to whether it was a MEND job or
an act by rogue elements in the security
services, there have been nine bomb blasts
in the nation’s capital attributed to Boko
Haram. The recent twin Nyanya bombings
point to an even greater sophistication, and
an audacious statement of intent.
Yet, as Entwistle has revealed, the capabilities, both financial and technical, have
been provided to enable the state create a
system that would forestall or minimize
such explosions. Given America’s counter-

terrorism experience, it has realized that a
data base of bomb-makers is critical. This
is achieved by forensic analysis of every
bomb, whether it is exploded or not. Against
this background and with adequate intelligence, they have been able to neutralize
bomb-makers even in distant lands. Here,
the story is totally different. We don’t know
whether the bombs are actually by Boko
Haram or other criminals including possible rogue elements within the security
services. This is pertinent because some
years ago Nigerian military arms were
traced to Niger Delta militants, and there
are current allegations of insurgents having accomplices in the security agencies.
The time has come for Nigerians to
ask the leadership hard questions and demand factual answers, not manipulated
responses. We need to know what happened to all the money meant for security
purposes. The leadership needs to explain
why the hard-earned reputation of the
Nigerian military has become sorely compromised. The leadership should be responsible enough to reveal those it claims are
behind the ravaging insurgency. Otherwise
it should stop hoodwinking Nigerians with
bogey theories it has failed to substantiate.
The leadership also must begin to live
up to its responsibility as the custodian of
security in all its ramifications as enunciated above. Anything short of that implies
it is part of a conspiracy to ruin the country
even if it is unwittingly involved. Lingering
insecurity will only exacerbate discontent
and create a fertile ground for worse manifestations of terrorism. It is reality check
time.